


Rescue and Redemption

by morganaDW (morgana07)



Category: Supernatural RPF
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bottom Jared, Dark Jensen Ackles, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Jared, Hurt Jared Padalecki, Hurt/Comfort, J2 AU, Kidnapped Jared, M/M, Not What It Looks Like, Not a death fic, Porn With Plot, Scared Jared, Threats of Rape/Non-Con, Top Jensen Ackles, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-01
Updated: 2014-07-16
Packaged: 2018-02-07 01:45:51
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 66,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1880430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/morgana07/pseuds/morganaDW
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jared's a college kid looking to make it on his own far away from his Judge father, Beverly Hills, & the trauma of his childhood. When someone chooses to use him as leverage against his father he finds himself kidnapped and trapped back in a nightmare very much like the one he lived through at 5 years old.</p><p>Jensen's an ex-Army Ranger looking to rebuild his life & find a new career after an op gone wrong ruined his career & left him fumbling.<br/>Hired by Mark Pellegrino to kidnap a Judge's son to make a point he's determined to prove that he can do it & move up in the man's shady organization.</p><p>Kidnapping the kid was simple. Not losing his hard edge with each day they're stuck together to big sad eyes of a kid who'd already accepted his fate not so simple. </p><p>Jared's past has secrets that begin to make Jensen doubt his own mission until the day comes when he realizes how much he's been used & what that might cost them both.</p><p>Will he follow orders to kill Jared or will things come to light that might mean it's not just Jared who needs rescued or who might need redemption?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warning: Language. Violence of varying degrees. Mention of past violence and abuse to a minor. Implied or threatened non-con. Kidnapping and other unsavory elements. There will come a time where it will carry an explicit warning so it's there to watch for.
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything and this is written for the enjoyment of other people.
> 
> Beta: Jenjoremy (Thanks!)
> 
> Author Note: The prompt for this one also came from my uber-terrific beta, Jenjoremy, who wanted a kidnapped Jared and a not so great (to start out) Jensen as the kidnapper so blame her for Jensen's attitude in the early chapters, lol.  
> Also, no one panic after reading the first chapter. This will have a happy ending like 99.9% of my pieces so trust the writer and the muse.  
> This is almost complete so it will update pretty regularly.

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter One**

** Schuylkill Federal Correction Institute, Minersville PA **

_“‘In other news across the country, former CEO of Pellegrino Industries, Mark R. Pellegrino, was found dead in his cell yesterday morning shortly before his sentencing hearing. Pellegrino was recently convicted of several federal indictments including embezzlement, extortion, drug and weapon smuggling, kidnapping, and murder. It is unknown at this time if suicide or foul play was the cause. No official statement has been made._

_Mr. Pellegrino is believed to have been behind the death of well-known judge, J.T. Padalecki as well as his only son, Jared, five years ago. It was the murder of the younger Padalecki that finally brought Pellegrino’s house of corruption down in addition to putting several other members of his corporation behind bars for various offenses._

_The international executive fought the charges but was finally convicted when unexpected evidence surfaced last year linking him to the judge’s and his son’s deaths. With his untimely death, it is uncertain what will happen to some of those already in jail who had turned state’s evidence on the man or how many of their own cases and convictions will be affected by Pellegrino’s unexpected death…’”_

A remote muted the volume of the TV in the exercise room of the medium security federal facility. This late in the day the room was basically empty; the only occupants were a single inmate and the guard who’d been assigned to be his shadow after too many attempts had been made on his life shortly after his arrival five years earlier.

“Ain’t that the asshole that got your ass put here, Ackles?” the guard asked from where he leaned casually against the wall. Unlike many of the inmates in the place, this one didn’t give him or the other guards much trouble.

Oh, he’d come in with an attitude, and to this day he still had a certain cockiness to him when he let it out, but for the most part he stayed to himself, avoided the other prisoners, and didn’t talk much unless it was to his lawyer or the one guy in the dark suit that screamed ‘fed’ to the guards when he came to visit once a month without fail.

Schuylkill was a medium security institution and while they had their fair share of hardcases, most of the inmates were in for lesser federal offenses. In the case of Jensen Ackles, no one but the warden and the United Stated District Attorney knew the real cause of the man’s incarceration.

It was clear by the number of suits and pissed-off feds who had swarmed the prison the one time the guy was jumped in the shower less than three months after arriving that he was more than a petty criminal or embezzler. He had his secrets, and the rumors around the place between guards and inmates ranged from a terrorist turned informant to a drug runner to just a guy who pissed off the wrong judge by screwing with his wife.

The only thing everyone did know, and that was only because of what the guy had muttered while under the effects of pain meds after his shower attack, was that his incarceration had something to do with Pellegrino and whatever the hell went down five years earlier.

Placing the weight he’d been lifting back on its resting bar, Jensen Ackles sat up and reached for a towel to wipe the sweat off his face and neck. He stared at the now silent TV and felt an odd chill work through him as thoughts and memories of soft eyes and dimples came back no matter how hard he’d tried to forget them since landing in the federal lockup.

The ice-cold eyes and sneering face of the man responsible for the worst decision of his life, for the night that still haunted him, stared back at him until the picture flipped to an older photo of the judge he had never met; the judge who couldn’t be bought off, not even with his only son’s life at risk.

“Yeah,” he grunted, no longer interested in working out. “That was him. Guess someone got smart and figured out that even if they convicted him, he’d never spend much time behind bars. Pity it didn’t happen sooner.”

The guard followed his charge’s eyes to the TV screen where a picture of a tall young man with long floppy dark hair, hazel eyes, and a large smile was now showing. The picture looked like it might have been taken during his high school graduation.

The guard had seen a different picture of that same young man the first time he’d been in Ackles’ cell. The prisoner had been sitting on his bed staring at the photo, but when asked who the kid was, all the guy would say before closing off emotionally was ‘ _the best and worst damn thing to ever have come into my life’_. Ackles had then slipped the picture into a drawer and the guard had never seen it out again.

“You ever gonna tell me what a guy like you did to end up in here, Ackles?” he asked, leading the man back to a cell that was isolated from the others in the building. “I’ve read your rap sheet so I know you fell on hard times after you were discharged from the army on a bum rap, but I’ve seen soldiers go bad for money or drugs and you just don’t really strike me as a guy who would go down that road…though you do have a hardass feel about you.

“You’re sitting in here on a 20-to-life sentence with a blacked out record on just why, and I’m guessing it had something to do with that dick that just got iced out in California.” He watched the lean, much thinner than he had been five years ago, man drop onto his bunk as the cell door closed with a noise that he noticed still made the man cringe. “What the hell did you do?”

Jensen looked at the guard, sliding his fingers under his pillow to pull out the worn and creased photo. “I killed both of us,” he replied quietly, closing his eyes and letting himself think about how something so simple had turned his world upside down and cost him not only his freedom but also something so much more important.

** Barton College, Olympia, Washington 5 years Ago **

_“‘Take him tonight. Contact me again once you have him and don’t fuck up!’”_

Jensen Ackles looked at his watch for the third time in an hour. How late could a kid study on a Friday night? What kind of geek was he stalking?

Finally the library doors opened, and his target stepped out into the cool night air. The boy paused, stretching his long frame, before slinging his backpack over his shoulder and trudging down the steps.

Everything about the young man screamed exhaustion, from his weary pace to the hand that pushed back through stupidly long dark hair. The kid was completely unaware of the shadow that was keeping pace with him as he headed across the deserted campus.

It was late October and the night air had a definite bite to it as Jensen easily trailed after the same young man that he’d been watching and tailing for over two weeks. He’d wanted to learn his habits and patterns but had discovered two things; first, this kid had no life outside of school, the library, and the small bookstore he worked in six days a week, and second, he was nothing like his father, high-powered judge J.T. Padalecki.

 

The job that the 28-year-old former Army Ranger had been handed was basically a simple snatch, grab, and hold. He’d been part of several of them since getting hired on by Pellegrino Inc. as a bodyguard and troubleshooter for the corporation’s slick-talking, high-rolling founder, but this was his first time doing a solo job. He was looking forward to proving to the man that he could do more than open car doors and shadow him at parties.

His background in Special Forces and black ops made him perfect for skulking around and shadowing people. It also made him the perfect bodyguard for a man with as many enemies as Mark Pellegrino seemed to have. This kind of job wasn’t his preference, but it was going to pay well and Jensen was determined to prove that he wasn’t the screw up some people thought he was.

Next time, however, he might pass on jobs that weren’t based in California because the damn weather in the Pacific Northwest was a lot like the wild mood swings his old man used to have before he got himself shot robbing a liquor store back when Jensen was only 13. In the two weeks since he’d been here, it had poured rain, been cold enough to nearly snow, been hot and humid, and then it went back to rain. Jensen had been in the rain forests of the Amazon and seen less rain and humidity than he’d dealt with since being told to tail, observe, and then kidnap one Jared Padalecki.

Tonight was clear but brisk. Since it was the Friday before Halloween most, if not all, of the students were off at parties, clubs, or nice and warm in their dorm rooms. Other than Jared, the campus appeared to be deserted. Jensen longed for the heat of the big black SUV he’d rented specifically for this op. Now that he’d gotten a good look at his target, he was glad he’d gone for a big vehicle instead of something compact since this kid was unbelievably tall and seemed to be all leg.

As he watched Jared cross the parking lot of the library, Jensen’s green eyes looked around to be sure they were still alone. He’d planned this part of the gig carefully. Kidnapping a person required privacy and swiftness. He had no doubt that he could handle the geek; he suspected the kid wouldn’t put up much of a fight and if he did, it wouldn’t last long.

Kidnapping innocent college kids wasn’t what Jensen had signed up for when he joined the army fresh out of high school at the age of 18 and then quickly moved into the Rangers. At 6’1” with a lean rangy build, his naturally fit form, speed, and agility made him perfect for the Special Forces unit and what came next. Of course the nightmares of the next few years led him to where he was now and why he was trying to ignore the little voice in the back of his head that had been screaming at him since he was hired by the wealthy and dangerous Pellegrino.

The shark-eyed man was slick and arrogant, and he made no attempt to conceal the fact that he made a good deal of his wealth in side businesses that were far from legal. That was why he surrounded himself with ex-Special Force soldiers as his bodyguards and troubleshooters.

The man himself had assured Jensen when giving him this assignment that no blood would be shed. The job was simply a way to twist the arm of the judge who was presiding over the case that could send Pellegrino to prison for a good 50 years or more. Pellegrino, of course, insisted that the charges had been trumped up and the local Beverly Hills police had planted evidence to frame him with.

Jensen didn’t believe that the charges were exaggerated or that the evidence had been tampered with, but he did believe the rest. He’d been part of other snatch and grabs and while he’d never actually seen the other men release their victims, he’d been told they had and he had no reason not to believe that’s what had happened. Anyway, it wasn’t like he could afford to lose this job because no one else would be willing to hire him given the crap his so-called ‘friends’ had spread about him after the last job in Africa went sour.

Unzipping his black leather jacket to give himself more room to maneuver, he increased his speed when he saw that they were getting close to where he’d parked his car with the hood up to add weight to the story he was about to spin.

He’d noticed the kid, Jared, had slowed when he must have gotten a phone call because Jensen watched him pull the phone out of his jacket to stare at it for a second before answering. He slowed up as well, feeling a bit surprised, since in all the time he’d been watching him, he’d seen the kid text several times, but this was the first time he ever actually talked to someone.

“No. No, I already told you that I’m not coming home for Thanksgiving…No, it being a holiday really doesn’t make a difference, Aunt Lara. Dad made his choice when he found out about me. I haven’t changed; his opinion of me won’t change, so why travel back to California just to make us both miserable while we pretend to be a nice normal family?” Jared’s voice was soft and carried a slight accent that could have been either Texas or some other southern state, but it was gentle enough to soothe ruffled nerves, and something about it also made the former soldier pay more attention as he listened to the words the kid was saying.

Jensen kept to the shadows as he moved around his SUV, making sure the doors were unlocked and anything he might need was within reach. He knew he had one shot at this. If he screwed up it was all over.

Jared…no, the kid…he tried to not refer to him by name since he’d been trained not to get too emotionally attached to any target, had stopped between the SUV and a huge tree to frown and Jensen swore that it had to be the first time he’d seen the kid without some kind of smile or grin on his face.

“I don’t really give a care what people will say about him if his only son doesn’t make an appearance. He didn’t care what people thought or said about me when he made that scene at my 21st birthday party after you so kindly passed on the rumors you’d heard about me.” He leaned against the tree to rub a hand over his burning, tired eyes while pretending to listen to his aunt rail and rant about how selfish he was being.

Jared was tired. Actually he was more than tired. He was beyond exhausted and just wanted to walk the rest of the way to his dorm, hoping his damn sex crazy roommate hadn’t locked him out again so he could get at least a few hours of sleep before work in the morning.

Between school, studying, and his job Jared knew he was burning the candle at both ends and it was only late October. If he kept this pace up, he’d be burned out before the winter break but he had just as much stubborn pride as his Dad and wouldn’t admit that he couldn’t survive on the less than promised monthly stipend.

At 21, the 6’4” college junior was still undecided about what field he wanted to major in since he’d flat out refused to go into law despite his father’s demands.

Knowing he’d already disappointed the older man with his lifestyle choice, Jared really no longer cared about the threats of being disowned or having to make his own way. He just wanted to do what he enjoyed and learn to find himself.

So with that in his head he finally just closed the phone, cutting off his aunt, a woman who hadn’t liked him ever since his mother, her sister, was murdered when Jared was only five years old.

“I’m my own man now and I will keep being a man that I like and want to be,” he whispered, taking a deep breath of the crisp cool air and starting to move when he suddenly realized he was no longer alone in the parking lot. “Oh…umm…hi.”

Jared had seen the short haired guy around several times in the last week or so, but since it was a busy campus and town, he just shrugged it off. He ignored the teasing comments from the girls at the bookstore that he had a secret admirer because no one with eyes that beautiful, green eyes that could go from jade to emerald in a moment, or with lips that could even make a straight guy wonder what they felt like, and Jared was far from straight, could be anything but heterosexual.

“Hey yourself.” Jensen had a couple of reactions to the shy smile that appeared when the kid noticed him. One side, his professional side, gave a silent fist pump because his target was stepping nicely into the trap. The other side…the side that he hadn’t paid much attention to in several years kicked him in the head for what he was about to do. “Sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if maybe you could do me a huge favor.”

Jared was so tired that he had to bite back his initial instinct to respond that he’d do anything the hot guy in the black leather jacket wanted, but he caught himself and glanced around; something was nibbling in the back of his head, but he chose to ignore it. This was Olympia, Washington, not Beverly Hills, California. He was perfectly safe here.

“Uhhh, what do you need?” he asked; he knew he’d been working too much and studying too hard when a fast smile gave him a punch in the chest that reminded Jared of how long it had been since he let himself really look at a guy. “I’ve uh seen you around a lot lately. You new in town or to the college?”

Well that wasn’t something Jensen had expected to hear since he prided himself on his ability to keep from being seen by his targets unless being spotted suited him. “Yeah, you could say that,” he replied easily, stepping closer to motion with the small flashlight in his hand to the open hood. “I’m up here seeing the sights but it seems that I ignored one sound too many and now it won’t start. Could you hold this while I poke and prod under the hood? Unless you happen to be a whiz at fixing engines and can tell me what the hell’s wrong with it?”

The kid’s laugh was rich, full, and amused as he smiled with dimples showing. “Ask me to fix your cell phone or laptop, or ask me what star is where in the sky tonight and I can help…but the only thing I know about cars is where to stick the key and which pedal makes it go forward. But sure, I can hold a light for you.”

“Thanks a lot.” Jensen had figured cars wouldn’t be one of the kid’s areas of expertise, but he found himself lost for a moment in the comment about the stars. He held out the light and noticed the large but soft hands that took it shook a little. “Cold…or scared?” he asked while pretending to look under the hood for the problem.

“Tired,” Jared corrected without thinking, sliding his backpack off of his shoulder to ease the pressure from the weight of his books. He eased a little closer to hold the light more directly into what he deemed far more confusing than all the maps and pictures in his astronomy class. “Though it is a bit chilly tonight. I didn’t think to grab a jacket when I left my dorm this morning. Should I be scared of you, Mr…?” He let it hang as if trying to decide if he wanted to learn this guy’s name.

“Jensen.” His real name was out before the ex-soldier even knew it and he inwardly cursed himself for that slip-up. “And most people would be a little scared. A young good-looking guy like you…walking alone on a pretty empty campus…at night. You never know what kind of creeps you might come across.”

Jared snorted, amused at the thought. “Most of the trouble makers on campus don’t mess with me because I keep to myself…and they know I can hack into their computers if they do and cause all sorts of trouble for them. I’m good…but I appreciate the thought that you think I might be good-looking.” He dropped his eyes when deep green ones shifted to look at him. “I’m far from that.”

“Good looking, shy, a computer whiz, and humble. A very impressive package, Mr. Padalecki,” Jensen remarked smoothly, shifting his body just slightly forward so he’d be more in position to make his next move as the kid suddenly realized he’d used his name. Jensen let his tone change as he stared at his now wary target. “It isn’t the jocks or locals I meant that you should be scared of, Jared. That would be me.”

In the span of the four seconds it took Jared to realize the danger he was in and move to bolt, a strong hand had closed over his wrist, holding him in place, and that handsome rugged face had changed to hard and cold.

“Do us both a favor and don’t try anything stupid, kid.” Jensen tightened his grip on the wrist in his hand, stepping away from the front of the SUV to prepare a simple move that would allow him to get the shocked, frightened boy in a sleeper hold that would knock him out long enough to restrain him and get them out of the area. “The more you fight me on this, the more I’ll hurt you, and that’s not really what my boss wants or what I…goddamn it!”

The sudden flare of pain in his jaw took Jensen off guard. He’d expected the wide-eyed look of shock and fear; he expected some wild fighting or even some confused begging, but he had not expected the fist to his jaw or the knee that smashed his groin before the goddamn kid broke free of his grasp and began to run.

“So not a smart move, kiddo,” he growled, spitting blood and running after his prey. He quickly realized that while Jared might have some instinctive talent in defending himself, his common sense must have gone up in smoke because instead of leaving the heavy backpack and running into the clear driveway that would take him to the heart of the campus, the stupid kid had grabbed the pack and was trying to get lost in the thin clearing of trees off to the side of the library. “Rookie.”

Jared was cursing his own stupidity even as he tried to put distance between him and the would-be kidnapper as he ran among the scattered trees. Of course the hot guy would be a nut case. He should’ve clued in on that when the guy said he was good-looking.

Childhood fears were spilling back as he struggled to keep running while off balance with his pack of books. He couldn’t afford to lose them, but it was becoming increasingly hard to avoid falling in the dark woods.

He’d never explored the woods that surrounded the college due to allergies and dark memories. While he loved animals and plants, he hated actual woods and now as he tripped over a gnarled branch, Jared struggled to fight back tears.

“Damn it!” He felt pain slash over his palm when he tried to catch himself from falling by shooting his arm out and felt a sharp piece of bark cut him.

The woods were dark and unusually silent, but then Jared wasn’t sure he would hear anything over the sound of his pounding heart and harsh breathing anyway. He tried to look behind him to see if his attacker was following, but everything was pitch black.

He was confused as to who or why someone would want to kidnap him. He was just a college kid. It wasn’t like he was rich or had a famous…oh crap. “Dad.”

Now Jared was torn between panicked laughter and cursing his father for whatever the hell he’d done to piss someone off enough that they thought coming after him would work. Thinking that maybe he had lost the guy, Jared was trying to calm down, to get his thoughts to focus so he could figure out where the hell he was, when the air was suddenly driven from his lungs as a hard body slammed into his back, forcing him down to the ground with a grunt.

“That did not exactly help your case, kid.” Jensen’s voice was deep, gravelly, and hard when he growled into the boy’s ear, grabbing a handful of long hair to jerk his head back. “Pissing me off is a sure way to get yourself hurt or killed! Now settle…” He grunted as a scrambling arm tried to fly back and elbow him.

Jensen really didn’t want to do permanent damage to the geek, but the longer this went, the harder Jared fought him, the more tempted he was to break something that wasn’t vital.

“Get offa me, pervert!” Jared’s terror was building. He knew if he let this guy take him, the odds were good he’d be dead by the morning if this was a sex thing or by the week’s end if it did have something to do with his father. “Let go!”

“Not happening…and if you don’t settle the fuck down, I will go ahead and make you earn your keep for all the crap you’re giving me now!” Jensen snapped, jerking the kid over onto his back while pulling his 9mm Beretta from under his jacket. He shoved the muzzle under the boy’s chin and saw the wide eyes go even wider, but slowly his captive’s struggles stilled as if he got the point. “Now this can go easy or hard. You’ve already made this hard enough by running, not to mention actually drawing blood on me.”

“Give me another chance, asshole, and I’ll do more than draw a little blood.” Jared tried to sound braver than he felt, biting back a whimper of fear when his hair was yanked harder and the cold muzzle of the gun slid over his cheek slowly, almost like a caress. All of his bravado drained out of him. “Please…let me go. You…you don’t have to do this…whatever this is.” He voice was little more than a whisper.

The solider in Jensen, the one who’d signed up with the honest intent to do good, nearly gave in at the soft shaking voice and large wet and scared eyes, but the other side of him, the heartless cold professional he’d been turned into, shoved those urges aside.

“Yeah, I do.” He cocked his head curiously. “You gonna be a good boy now and come along quietly, or do I have to knock you out and then carry your ass outta here?”

Jensen was using his full weight to pin the boy to the ground, keeping his knees on his wrists until he could cuff them. He needed to get the kid back to the SUV and that meant the kid had to walk or get dragged. As he studied Jared’s face, he could tell the kid was scared, but not quite ready to cooperate so Jensen reached into his inner jacket pocket to pull out a small bottle and a rag. His timeline was getting seriously fucked up, and he didn’t have the time or the patience to beg the kid to come along quietly.

Jared had almost resigned himself to what was happening…until he saw the bottle and rag; he knew immediately what was about to happen. A flash of memory hit and before he or his kidnapper knew what was happening, he was thrashing and fighting wildly.

“ **NO**!” he screamed, not even thinking that someone might hear him if he yelled loud enough. His thoughts were only on getting loose. He forgot about the gun or the dangerous guy holding him down. He forgot about all of that and could only recall the smell of the chloroform from when he’d been small as well as the feel of cooling blood as it pooled around him. “Get away from me!”

“Kid, I am so gonna kick your ass when we’re…son of a goddamn bitch!” Jensen didn’t see how a guy who was so skinny and gangly…so damn geeky…could be so goddamn wiry and strong. He was wondering if the kid’s freakish height had anything to do with it when he actually was flipped off of him in the burst of wild fighting. “Fuck it.”

Rolling to his feet with ease, Jensen lunged to take down the scrambling kid, ducking and grabbing a wild fist and jerking it behind his back. He was trying to ignore the curses and words being shouted while worrying that all the noise would begin to attract attention.

Grabbing Jared’s other wrist, he swiftly pinned them both at the small of his back and finally got them hooked with the set of cuffs he was glad he had stuffed in a pocket. Once he had both hands free again, he snatched a handful of hair and gave a disgusted curse of frustration before giving a swift and solid blow to the side of Jared’s head to knock him out cold.

“No job is worth this much hassle,” he muttered once the body under him fell limp. Jensen got to his feet, brushing himself off and using the toe of his boot to turn the now limp body over. A thin stream of moonlight coming through the canopy of trees allowed him to see the pale, dirty face streaked with tears and beginning to show bruises. He stared at the kid and wondered what had happened to the side of him that once would’ve been horrified by what he just did. Then he remembered. It was destroyed when his career went up in flames.

“Nothing personal, kid.” He spoke gruffly, pulling out his phone to snap a quick picture that he sent along with a text message that simply read, “ _Got him._ ” “You’re just a means to an end and it’s my job to make that happen. Hopefully you’ll be smarter when you wake up cause we’ll have a long time to play if you make this too hard.”

Looking around, Jensen spotted the fallen backpack and debated for only a moment before snatching it. He didn’t want to risk leaving evidence behind. He let out a grunt at the weight; were college textbooks made out of concrete? He couldn’t be sure which weighed more, the damn backpack or the kid as he lugged both back through the woods to where his SUV still sat.

A quick glance around reassured Jensen that the area was still deserted, so he carried his load to the vehicle, had a brief struggle with the rear door, and then muscled his burdens inside. He quickly but skillfully tied the boy up and using the already attached straps hooked to clamps inside the rear of the SUV. It would be impossible for the kid to move or jerk when he woke up. Jensen would debate putting him up front when he saw how well the boy behaved.

The kid’s strange reaction to the chloroform confused Jensen, but he quickly shrugged it off while slipping a heavy cloth into his captive’s mouth and knotting it tightly at the back of his head. Jensen gave a quick swipe of his fingers to push dark hair out of closed eyes. “Hope you’re worth the trouble, kid.”

**TBC**  


	2. Chapter 2

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Two**

“How much longer until he can go home?”

It struck Jensen Ackles as a little weird that he was the one asking this question instead of his current pain in the ass assignment. He shot an unseen glare from his cell phone to the door of the run down motel room where said assignment was currently supposed to be cuffed to a chair.

“It’s already been a week and he ain’t exactly the easiest person to keep under wraps without either drugging him or beating him unconscious...though that second option is certainly tempting at times. Hasn’t his old man given into your demands yet?” he demanded, rubbing the bridge of his nose that still hurt from the other night when the kid woke up violently; Jensen began to get the sinking feeling this op was not going to go as smoothly as he’d been led to believe.

“Judge Padalecki is playing tough, trying to see if my threats are real, or if I’m bluffing. He’s a hard-headed man who thinks because he’s so influential in the political scene that he’s above being blackmailed or having his family threatened…so it might take a little longer than I first thought,” Mark Pellegrino’s smooth voice replied over the untraceable line, and then he chuckled a little. “Feel free to rough up the merchandise if he gets too out of hand; have a little fun with the brat…or if you feel you can’t handle him, I could always send Mr. Welling up to relieve you.”

“No, thank you, Sir, that won’t be necessary.” Jensen’s teeth clenched at the mere name, not realizing he was also squeezing the steering wheel hard until he heard the plastic creak. “I think I can handle a 21-year old geek who thinks he’s Houdini.”

“It’s very important that you keep that boy locked down tight until his father caves, Ackles,” the cold voiced man remarked from wherever he was in California. “No screw ups. I can’t afford them and neither can you. Remember who you are now and not who you were if you start to get a case of a guilty conscious.”

If anything would give him that, it would be thinking of what he was now and what he was doing to an innocent kid. “I have everything under control,” he returned tightly, glancing at his watch and knowing he’d been out of the room too long. He was about to cut the check-in call off when suddenly something nagged him. “By the way, Mr. Pellegrino…what will you do if the Judge doesn’t give in? I mean, I know he won’t let his son come to harm but…on the off chance that he does call your bluff, what happens to the kid?”

“ _I_ won’t be doing anything, Mr. Ackles. And let’s not cross that unfortunate bridge until we come to it,” Pellegrino replied smoothly. “Call me tomorrow.”

As the line went dead, Jensen leaned his head back on the seat with something between a sigh and a curse. It was really going to suck for him if the damn kid turned out to be right about what he’d been saying pretty much from the moment he woke up…woke up and nearly got them both killed.

** A week earlier, a back stretch of road: **

Deciding to steer clear of major highways and roads until he got them far away from the scene of the crime so to speak, Jensen stuck to back roads. It allowed him to have more confidence that the cops wouldn’t be coming after them, and while there was some light traffic, it was still basically clear.

He wanted to find a nice out of the way motel to hole up in for a day or two to see what kind of reaction the kidnapping of a federal judge’s son caused and make certain the kid understood the rules of his new existence for the next week or so.

He’d been driving for almost an hour and half with the radio on low when he heard the first sounds finally coming from behind him. He expected the kid to wake up a little disoriented from the blow to his head as well as from the blindfold and tight bonds securing him, so Jensen wasn’t too alarmed by the sound of thrashing.

“You might as well simmer down back there, kid. You’re not gonna break those ropes or cuffs, and the straps stay on until we stop. You’ve already been a huge pain in my ass so you’re on lockdown until you prove to me that you won’t try to run again. The last thing I need is you causing me even one more headache tonight. ” He kept his tone gruff, hoping that it would convince the kid to settle down, but as he kept his eyes on the road instead of looking to the rear of the SUV, it seemed like the noise picked up rather than lessened. “Kid, settle down before you end up hurting…what the fuck?”

Jensen’s eyes snapped to the rearview mirror when the muffled sounds turned to gagging, and when he heard what sounded like something ripping out of metal, he began to viciously curse. “Damn it!” A quick glance revealed a small access road off the highway, so he swiftly jerked the wheel to get the SUV off the road enough so they wouldn’t be seen before he jumped out of the vehicle and jerked the back door open. “Shit! Shit! Shit! Kid! Damn, Jared!”

The dim dome light supplied enough illumination to show him that the damn straps he’d used to hook the kid down had snapped, allowing him to roll to his side, but the ex-Army Ranger then saw something even more alarming. He could see the kid’s sickly white face slowly turning a dangerous shade of red and what looked like vomit coming out past the gag. He realized that the kid was literally choking to death right in front of him.

“This job is not worth this crap!” Jensen muttered under his breath, but he moved swiftly to grab the thrashing, nearly convulsing, body, pulling him bodily out of the rear door. He barely managed not to drop him as the kid still fought his touch. “Hold still a goddamn second so I can get this out!” he hollered sharply, supporting Jared as he lowered him to his knees on the hard rocky ground.

Jensen gave a swift jerk to free the knot in the gag, yanking it loose, and then tightened the grip he had on the younger man as he choked and gagged as the vomit poured free

“Jesus, kid, I didn’t hit you hard enough to concuss you much less make you puke,” he grumbled, refusing to let himself feel anything like guilt or concern. He kept his tone hard and uncaring but did loosen his grip and push back unruly bangs as the kid continued to puke his guts out, shoulders shaking.

“…Not…that…” Jared gasped. His voice was ragged, low and trembling. His stomach was cramping as the vomited slowly gave way to dry heaves, but it was still pitching dangerously. “Off…please…take…take it off.”

Frowning as he tried to put the mumbled words together, Jensen was determined that he wasn’t going to give in to anything his captive wanted. “I can’t take the cuffs or the ropes off until…”

“The blindfold!” Jared’s voice pitched unusually high, a sure sign that he was close to a full on panic attack. “Can’t…handle it…please...I…I need to…I need to be able to see…I need to be able to see what’s happening to me.” He lost his breath as he felt more sour bile come up and he let out a desperate sob. “Please…mister. I…I promise…I’ll keep my eyes closed when you tell me to but…take it off…I…I feel it again and…God!”

Only the sudden way Jared tensed warned Jensen to hold him tighter as he began to throw up again, choking as he tried to talk between bouts of vomiting and sobbing. The soldier had hardened his heart to a lot of things in this world, and he was determined to keep it hard toward this boy, determined that this kid would remain simply a job to him…until in between choked, raw sobs, Jensen heard a simple word whispered, and he decided not even the coldest killer could withstand that broken voice calling for ‘Momma’.

With a muttered curse, Jensen tugged the blindfold off and hurled it into the SUV. He could see the tears streaking that too young, too innocent face, but the boy’s eyes were closed tightly. “Open your eyes, kid,” he ordered gruffly, blowing out a breath. “Jared! C’mon, open your eyes.”

It took several blinks to get his lids to open, but after several moments, hazel eyes finally opened, wide with fright and confusion when they looked at Jensen. “T…thank you,” he murmured, tugging at his cuffed hands in frustration until he finally turned to wipe his mouth on his shoulder. “Can…never mind…I…I think it’s over…you can…you can gag me again if you wanna…but I promise I’ll be quiet.”

Confident the kid was too weak from the bout of nausea to even consider running or fighting back, Jensen shifted him so he could loosen the ropes on his ankles just enough for him to hobble around the SUV to the front passenger seat.

“I’m gonna take the cuffs off long enough to hook your hands in front of you for the rest of the drive,” he said sternly, fingers tight on a shaking bicep to warn the kid not to try anything. He kept his blade in his hand just in case the kid didn’t quite understand the message. “Sit down and stay still.”

Jared considered making a break for it but decided he was still too queasy and weak to do that…yet. As he was placed in the front seat, he grunted as he was pushed forward long enough for the metal on one wrist to be unlocked, but in the blink of an eye, his hands were cuffed in front of him.

He squinted in the dim dome light, watching as the guy reached down under the seat to pull out another heavy chain that he hooked to the center of the cuffs. It gave Jared a small range of movement but not enough to fight back or protect himself. He felt something else wrapping around his ankle, jerking at the touch to his leg when the chain hooking his wrists was tested.

“Jumpy much?” Jensen teased, his smirk cold, as he felt the sudden tension and heard the low sound that was made when he ran his fingers up the inside of the kid’s leg. He found himself enjoying the brief flash of terror. “You do know that you and I will be spending a lotta time together before this is over and done with, kiddo. I’m probably gonna make you earn your keep in some way, so you might as well get used to feeling my hands on you,” he whispered with his mouth close to Jared’s ear. He kept his fingers hard as they caught the boy’s chin before it could jerk away from him. “I’m the one in charge, pretty boy. I’m the one who decides when…or if…you eat or drink. I decide whether or not I keep you tied up and gagged all the time or…” He paused for a second. “I could just put that blindfold back on you and…”

“No!” Jared was already shaking from the implied threats, wondering just how serious this guy was about any of them, but that last one had him snapping his head up, hands testing how much give the chain hand when he went to try to grab onto the guy’s arm. “No, please…I’ll…I’ll let you do anything else you want…I won’t fight you, but just…please don’t put that back on. I need to see. When the blood starts…I need to see it before I feel it pooling around me and…”

Jensen’s fingers went still, and he shot a hard look into those wide eyes. “What blood?” he demanded, looking for more wounds. He’d seen the cut on his hand and had wrapped it up, planning to clean and dress it better once he had them safe in a room.

“My…my blood…when you…you kill me,” Jared hated when he stuttered. It had been a childhood problem, and he’d worked hard to lose it, but it sometimes reappeared when he was nervous or stressed; tonight it was back with a vengeance. “That’s what this…this is, isn’t it?”

“Kill you?” Jensen wondered if the kid had watched too many movies. He made sure he was secure before reaching back for a bottle of water, uncapping it and holding it up for him to sip. “Take a drink, swish it around and spit it out…don’t you even think about spitting it on me or else I will gag you again,” he warned sternly, stepping back to be safe, but the kid did as directed.

He let him have a few swallows before capping the bottle for later. “What makes you think you’ll end up dead?” he asked after he triple checked that Jared was secure in the front seat and moved back to wipe down the back seat where some vomit had spilled before he got to the kid. He sighed and stuffed the useless so called straps in the bag behind his seat.

Jared twisted in the seat; he wasn’t trying to get loose, just more comfortable given his long legs and the pulled up seat. Now that he was more awake, his head was starting to hurt and his damn stomach, despite still feeling queasy, was reminding him that he’d skipped dinner…again.

“Isn’t that what happens in cases like this?” He blinked to clear his eyes, trying to see the guy but gave up when watching his swift movements made his head hurt more. Jared closed his eyes and tried to ignore the cold chills as he accepted how this would play out for him. “You get paid to kidnap me for whatever reason and then I end up dead because I’ve seen you or something?”

“Too many bad movies, Jared.” Jensen almost grinned, but honestly, the fatalistic tone from the front seat bothered him. The boy was too young to be this certain he was going to die. “My boss just needs you held somewhere until he gets your old man to do something…or in this case not do something, and then you’ll go back to school or whatever,” he replied with a shrug. “A few days, maybe a week.”

Opening his eyes to watch Jensen get back behind the wheel, the college student frowned. “Your…boss wants my Dad to…do something involving a case or something like that?” He could feel the cold ball of certainty building in his stomach; his fingers clenched into fists.

“Your father’s the presiding judge on a case that could send my employer away for a long, long time. He wants him to…reconsider some of the evidence and hopes by using you as leverage, your dad will agree.” Jensen laid his Beretta in between the seats covered by a lightweight shirt to show that it was close enough to grab if Jared acted out or tried to draw attention to them in any way.

Jared had feared it would be something like that. Now that he knew that was the case, the urge to laugh or cry came back strong, so the result was a mix of the two. “He, whoever he is, thinks holding me as leverage will convince my dad not to find him guilty or something?” He dropped his head back to the seat with a bitter half laugh, half sob. “Save us both the time and pain and just shoot me now…cause I can already tell you that even if my Dad and I weren’t on the outs…anyone who knows him knows that he won’t cave in to blackmailers or kidnappers. He’ll let me die before he ever compromises his principles.”

“You’re his son, kid.” Jensen frowned, feeling uneasy for the first time since taking this job. “No father, no matter how upstanding or morally right he feels that he is, would let his family die over a damn embezzlement case.”

“If that were true, my mother would still be alive,” Jared told him in a dead tone that tore at the cold heart Jensen was trying to keep for this job. “I…I know how this is…is gonna end and I won’t make it easy for you,” he went on, trying to turn more into the door to lean his aching head against the cool tinted glass of the window. “I might not be able to hurt you like you can me, but I also won’t just stand still and let you molest or rape or torture me or…”

“Go to sleep, kid!” Jensen growled, jerking on the key to restart the SUV and get them back on their way. He forced his eyes to stay on the road until he heard the soft little broken breaths slowly even out and only then did he glance beside him.

He’d poured over this kid’s background; he thought he’d found out everything that he needed to know. The information on Jared’s late mother was limited to the fact that she’d been a victim of a horrendous murder when Jared had been five years old. No details about the crime had been included, and now Jensen was wondering just what details had been left out or covered up. He really wanted to know why the hell this kid had such exaggerated reactions to things like blindfolds and chloroform.

As they got closer to the Northern Cascade mountain range, the towns became smaller and more spread out. It was another two hours before Jensen finally found a decent looking motel that met his needs. It was small enough that the owners were more interested in the cash he spent than the name he put down, and they didn’t bat an eye when he asked for the very last room in the row.

Jensen had left the kid sleeping while he rented the room, and there was still no sign of movement when he parked front of the room. He didn’t bother waking him up, just undid the cuffs and ropes and carried him, bridal style, into the room. He laid the boy on the bed, quickly hooking his wrists to the sturdy bedframe while rearranging the ankle cuffs and ropes to tie his legs to the bottom posts. He decided last minute to tie them spread apart just to tease the kid who seemed to have some pretty set ideas as to what kidnappers did.

Of course as he was restraining him to the bed, watching him for signs of consciousness, more than a few thoughts popped into Jensen’s head. It would be so damn simple to play with this big-eyed boy whose lips looked so soft and plush as they parted in his sleep.

“Too damn easy,” he muttered. He wished he’d asked about the bed before renting this room because he hadn’t been expecting one king size bed. “Kid’s gonna immediately assume I’m gonna ravish him in his sleep or something.”

By the time Jared began to wake up, Jensen had secured the room, sent a text to his boss to update him with location and some details, and was seated at the table in the room cleaning his Beretta. When he heard the first sounds of awareness returning, he merely lifted his eyes and gave a slow smirk as he watched things come back to the boy.

“Mornin’, sunshine,” he greeted with a slow drawl that just hinted at his native state. He slid his tongue over his teeth and watched arms and legs tense as the kid came to several conclusions all at once, and then he simply sat back to wait for the outburst he knew would come.

Jared’s head was pounding, his cut hand was throbbing, and his arms and legs were pulled so tight that the muscles were burning. Groaning, he opened his eyes to slits but shut them quickly when a single ray of light from the pole light across the room blinded him and nearly had his stomach revolting again.

The deep cocky voice was an instant source of frightful memories, letting him know that this all wasn’t just a nightmare brought on by exhaustion. This was very real. He’d been kidnapped to be used as leverage so his father would rule a certain way on some guy’s case.

As he tried to move his arms and legs, the mild panic began to escalate and Jared forced his eyes to open again. He could see that he’d been tied in the middle of a very large, very solid wooden bed; his arms and legs were spread wide and tied to each post with wrist and ankle cuffs attached to chains hooked to the bed. But what really made Jared’s breath catch and his heart speed up was when he happened to look down to see that his heavy hoodie, flannel shirt, t-shirt and thermal shirt had all been removed, leaving his chest bare, and his jeans had been unsnapped. It didn’t look like the zipper had been touched, but his boots were also missing.

“I figured it would take some of the ideas about trying to escape out of your head if your boots were gone…and the rest of it just made sense,” Jensen remarked casually, standing with an easy grace to let his green eyes rake over the suddenly heaving chest. “I do remember mentioning something about you earning your keep after all the crap you’ve pulled with me. Maybe we’ll see just what you’re good at.” His fingertips brushed up a bare chest that actually had more tone to it than the baggy clothes led Jensen to first believe. He let his expression and leering eyes communicate the idea that he had plans to do that and more to the suddenly very close to hyperventilating college junior. “Kid?”

Jared swallowed hard and tried, but failed, to control his breathing. He recalled being told that the first time he’d woken up. He couldn’t help but recall every dirty movie or bad porno he had watched with his friends in high school. He also remembered the brutal threats, how he’d screamed when he’d found himself blindfolded, and knew he couldn’t deal with that again. He tried to tell himself that he was all good with it. That if it bought him a little more time without the blindfold, a little more time to figure a way to escape, or maybe even time for his Dad to prove him wrong, then he could do whatever this guy, this rugged looking guy whose green eyes still caught Jared’s attention, wanted him to.

Jared let out a shaky breath; he had almost convinced himself that he was okay with whatever was about to happen…until he saw those eyes coldly rake over his body and felt the touch on his chest. Then Jared knew he really couldn’t handle this, but he also knew he was helpless to stop the guy if he decided to rape him. He was tied up and powerless…something that Jared had sworn he wouldn’t be again.

Jared became so caught up in his own thoughts, in dark memories, in visions of how this guy would hurt him to gain his own sexual pleasure that he totally blanked out and didn’t even realize that he’d progressed from heavy breathing to hyperventilating until a sharp hand slapping across his face snapped him back to the present. His gaze settled on those deep, bright green eyes; the eyes were staring at him with a quick emotion that might have been worry if Jared didn’t know better.

“This is the third goddamn time that you’ve completely freaked out on me, kid. Knock it the fuck off!” Jensen growled, fighting back the worry and concern that had nearly escaped when he realized the damn kid wasn’t just scared but was deep in the midst of one whopper of a panic attack.

The ex-ranger had tried calling him by name since that had seemed to work the last time, but this time he realized he might have pushed the teasing too far as the boy continued to hyperventilate and his eyes became increasingly unfocused. The damn kid really thought he was going to force himself on him.

Jensen had done a lot of crap that he wasn’t proud of in his life, in and out of the Army, but the one thing he had never done, and didn’t plan on ever doing, was take anyone, male or female, by force. Especially not some damn kid whose deep hazel eyes were slowly but surely whittling away at his cold, hard shell. Now he just had to convince him of that.

“Jared, calm down…I mean it…take a deep breath…come on, if you pay attention to me, I’ll free one of your hands.” That might not have been the smartest thing to promise, but it did finally make those deep eyes shoot to his as the boy forced himself to pull in a couple of slow, deep breaths. Jensen slowly uncuffed one wrist and then one ankle, allowing the kid to roll to his side and scoot closer to the edge of the bed. “Look, I don’t know who you’ve talked to, what you’ve watched, or how you got the idea that just because I’m essentially the bad guy here that I’m going to rape you or torture you like that.

“Yeah, I might threaten you, and okay, I might slap you around if you give me trouble, but I was teasing when I said that stuff. I thought it would be payback for all the crap you pulled when I first grabbed you…you’re safe with me from that.” The soldier showed his empty hands before reaching up to once again push that damn unruly hair out of Jared’s pale face, noticing that when the kid got worked up or really scared his skin went cold and clammy. “The truth is, I took your shirts off because you were all sweaty from throwing up…I thought you might be more comfortable sleeping without them. The jeans were just to tease you.”

Jared frowned, watching the guy as if considering whether or not he was telling the truth. Suddenly a more pressing problem made itself known “ Ummm…Mister? If…I let you cuff my hands again can…and I promise not give you any trouble…can I use the bathroom?” Jared figured he was blushing, but his bladder had suddenly decided to kick in.

Blinking as if he hadn’t considered that matter, Jensen nodded. He reached up to uncuff the other wrist and ankle but rather than cuff the kid’s wrists together, he merely lifted a brow. “I’ll leave them free…but if you try anything stupid, you’ll be cuffed and have a gun to your head every time you move. Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Jared nodded and stood carefully to make sure his shaky legs would support him before stepping into the bathroom. He heard the order to leave the door part way open.

The small bathroom didn’t even have a window, so even if Jared had his shirts and boots, he knew he couldn’t escape that way. He finished his business, washed his hands, and splashed water on his face before stepping back out into the single room to eye the bed. “So…where do you want me?” he asked quietly, still not fully trusting the guy not to go back on what he said.

“For tonight, I’ll just cuff one wrist so you can sleep a little easier. I’ll leave your legs free, but I swear…if you kick me or try anything stupid, then I’ll tie you down all the way.” Jensen reattached a single wrist cuff, noticing the jeans were back to buttoned. “I’m not asking to be friends, kid. I just want to get through this as much as you do. So don’t fight me or try to escape and we’ll be fine…but I _will_ hurt you if you try to escape again or do anything to bring attention down on us,” he warned with a not too gentle tap to Jared’s cheek. “Now, go to sleep. We’ll stay here again tonight and then move on to a new place tomorrow.”

With the curtains and blinds drawn, Jared didn’t know what time it was, but he didn’t argue about trying to sleep since his body certainly seemed to be craving it. He thought it was pretty ironic that he had to get kidnapped just to give his body the rest it needed.

“It really would save you a lot of trouble and time if you killed me now, mister,” he muttered, still confident that he was going to die; he didn’t understand why his kidnapper wasn’t seeing that.

“Your Dad’ll come through, kid,” Jensen replied, trying not to wonder why Jared seemed so certain that he wouldn’t.

The next day Jared mostly slept and Jensen actually worried that maybe he had hit the kid too hard the other night, but then he recalled that he told him he was tired. He let him sleep since when Jared was sleeping, he was quiet. He wasn’t making comments about killing him to save time or plotting little escape attempts.

As the days progressed, Jensen found that Jared really wasn’t an unruly prisoner. He was basically cooperative and followed most of Jensen’s rules. He was, however, sly, sneaky and really good at slipping under Jensen’s radar. Every time the soldier thought the kid had accepted his role of prisoner and decided to reward him with a little leeway in the restraint area, he was reminded of why that was a bad idea.

“Do I really need to remind you one more damn time that I’m carrying a gun and a knife? Do you have any idea of how easy it would be to cripple you without killing you?” He was growling as he physically dragged a struggling Jared back through the door of the latest out of the way motel in some small town. Jensen was continuing to head for the mountains which were his ultimate destination…if only for a lack of a better one.

“Kill me or let me go!” Jared snapped, nerves raw and on edge after days of captivity with nothing to do but watch lame B&W TV. He missed school; he missed the friends he had there; he missed his job; but more than anything, he missed seeing the stars. “I was right outside the door! I wasn’t going anywhere, damn it!”

“Riiight…so you were just outside taking in the stars or something,” Jensen sneered, shoving the kid onto the bed and quickly locking one wrist to the bed. As an added precaution, and punishment, he tied his ankles together before looping the rope around the bottom rail. “We’re miles from anyone who could help you, kiddo. I’d remember that the next time you try to run off on me.”

Jared shoved with his still free hand to try to push the man away from him, turning his face into the flowery smelling pillow. “I wasn’t running! I just wanted to see the night sky! I wanted to see which stars were out!” he yelled, ignoring the flash of warning shot his way. “If you would’ve grabbed my bag, you’d see my astronomy books! I like the stars! I like the night! And I don’t like you!”

The last words were said on a broken sob as the kid buried his face more to let the emotions that he tried to hide come out until he finally cried himself to sleep and was still.

It was only then that Jensen let out the breath that he’d been holding. He’d forgotten about that damn heavy pack of books he’d grabbed the night of Jared’s abduction until just then.

He knew this wasn’t easy on Jared. Hell, the monotonous days and nights were driving him nuts as well, but he had a job to do…a job that he honestly expected to be done by now, but every time he checked in, he was told to just keep the kid hidden.

Jensen fed Jared and gave him water and Gatorade to drink; he tried to do what he could to make things easy despite the kid’s habit of acting like a brat, but he hadn’t done much to learn anything about his likes or hobbies. He supposed that maybe he could find something that Jared could do to keep him busy without alerting anyone that he was essentially a prisoner.

Tired and frustrated, Jensen lay on the other side of the bed with his hands under his head. It was on nights like this, nights when he was bored and frustrated, that keeping his mind, much less his hands, off Jared became hard.

Usually he’d do push-ups or clean his guns or try to figure out what the hell he was doing with his life. Tonight, though, he was tired and he hadn’t liked the not so subtle suggestions another of Pellegrino’s cronies had made earlier that day since the boss hadn’t been able to take his call.

Of all the people who worked for the man, Jensen despised Tom Welling most of all. A former Delta Force soldier who was booted out of the service with a dishonorable discharge, the black haired asshole didn’t hide his feelings about what he’d like to do to that ‘sweet piece of ass’ Jensen was alone with all the time.

Jensen was still pissed off at the images the lurid comments had left him with as well as his own too busy thoughts to notice the way Jared’s body was tensing. He was completely unaware of anything…until a shout came and pain exploded in his face when a clenched fist landed wildly, nearly breaking his nose.

“Goddamn it! That is it!” He was up and moving before he really even realized it, fury kicking in. “I’ve tried to be nice. I’ve tried to be reasonable, but I am fuckin’ tired of you hitting me when it won’t do…”

“No! Momma! Nooo!” Jared’s voice was ragged, low…young; his body was thrashing as much as it could with how he was tied, but he still tried to kick and fight back…or fight to get to someone. “Momma!”

It was like a light was flipped on and suddenly Jensen realized the kid wasn’t fighting to escape; he didn’t hit him to try to escape. He was trapped in a nightmare and was reacting to it.

“Kid…” He dropped the rope he’d just picked up and sat on the side of the bed, grabbing the flailing fist before Jared could connect again and actually break his nose this time. He held the clenching hand tightly while using his other hand to push those damn bangs back. He could see that Jared’s eyes were wide open but unseeing…and then what he was saying began to register. “Damn, what the hell happened back then?”

“Momma! Mommy! Don’t…don’t hurt her! Please…” Jared choked off, images still vivid in his mind of the last time he’d seen his mother alive and what he witnessed; things that he’d never told anyone, not even his father. “Mommy! Noooo…”

The frightened sobs of what clearly had been a child watching something horrible happen to his mother chilled even an ex-soldier’s heart, and when Jared’s body began to shake, Jensen swore under his breath and let his gut instinct take over. He released the cuff and pulled the boy up so he could get his arms around him to try to hold him still so he didn’t end up hurting himself with all his thrashing and jerking.

“Jared…kid…damn it…Jared, c’mon now. Wake up. You’re just dreaming,” he tried to say, wincing at the strength behind the wild blows that rained down on his back as Jared fought the images of his nightmares. It felt like hours, but surely only minutes had passed before slowly, finally, the boy’s sobs turned to sniffles and his wrecked voice dropped to whisper soft pleas to please stop hurting her.

The last thing Jensen heard him plead to his nightmare attackers was to not use the rag and don’t cover his eyes. He needed to see when Mommy woke up…and suddenly Jensen knew why the sight of the chloroform and then the use of the blindfold had triggered such strong reactions.

“Shh, it’s just a bad dream, Jared. Whatever happened to you then isn’t what’s happening to you now.” If Jensen noticed how long he sat and held the sobbing younger man, or how his fingers carded back through that too damn long sweat soaked hair, he knew it wouldn’t have mattered to him then.

Kidnapping the kid, putting the fear of God into him, keeping him prisoner for one man’s selfish reasons, was one thing. Leaving him to sob and shake his way through the nightmare of his youth, letting him sob for his mother and beg his father to please, please give the bad men what they wanted was something completely different to him.

It wasn’t until close to the morning that Jared’s body finally fell into a semi-relaxed sleep, and only then did Jensen step away from the bed to stick his head under a faucet of cold water to wake himself up even though he knew they wouldn’t be moving on that day.

By the time Jared’s red, puffy eyes opened a few hours later, Jensen had gotten real food from the small diner near the motel and carried in the backpack of books.

They kept an uneasy silence between them as they ate breakfast, but instead of recuffing him to the bed, Jensen let Jared sit in the chair at the table with a cuff on his ankle and a chain long enough to allow him to move from the bed, to the table, to the bathroom, but not even close to the door or window.

After they ate, Jensen dropped the pack of books in another chair and tried not to smile as he watched the look of surprise come over a pale face before hesitant eyes slowly lifted to meet his. “Tonight…if it doesn’t rain and you don’t give me grief this afternoon, I’ll let you sit by the window so you can see those stars you want to see so much.” He refused to let the suddenly bright smile crack his inner walls more than this kid already had. He tapped the bag. “Maybe these will keep you busy for an hour or two.”

Jared’s fingers reached to touch the bag he’d thought he’d lost but stilled when they brushed the ones of his captor instead. He looked up into gentle green eyes. “Thank you…ummm, what can…what should I call you?”

“Besides asshole?” Jensen smirked, moving away while hoping his face didn’t reveal how much that shaky touch affected him. “I told you my real name that first night, Jared. You may as well use it.”

“Jensen,” Jared murmured as if testing the name out. “Thank you,” he added softly.

Nodding, Jensen took a step toward the bathroom but then paused. “Jared? How did your mother die?” he asked carefully, seeing the boy tense as he dropped his chin to his chest while reaching up for the braided necklace he’d had on this entire time.

“My Dad killed her,” he whispered after several dead seconds, frowning as he went on but didn’t look up. “We were kidnapped by a drug guy looking to get Dad to fudge some records or something. They…” He stopped, shuddering and unable to go that far into the memory. “He refused to deal with the guy and…Momma was…killed trying to protect me.” He then slowly lifted his eyes to see the dawning awareness in green eyes, and he gave a bitter sad smile. “That’s how I know my Dad won’t deal this time. You’ll be ordered to kill me…and I really do wish you’d do it soon…get it over with.”

Jensen swallowed the sour feeling and the knot in his gut as he digested that information. He stepped into the bathroom to shave, suddenly beginning to doubt the success of this operation.

Since that day, four motels and a little understanding ago, Jensen tried to give Jared more consideration and as much freedom as he could. It didn’t seem like, much but if all it took to get to see a small smile and hear a soft laugh was some star gazing out the window and some cheap magazines, then he’d do it.

Now as Jensen eased out of the SUV, grabbing the bag of fast food and some random magazines, he thought back to each check-in, each day that this went on with no resolution in sight, and began to wonder how right Jared might be.

He unlocked the door; he always kept it locked and put at least one cuff on Jared when he left, and he never left the kid for very long. He still didn’t fully trust the kid not to panic and try to escape again. “Huh…finally got one of those paper airplanes to fly I see,” he grunted as he walked into the room to be hit dead center in the chest with an airplane made out of an old newspaper.

“So, get orders to kill me yet?” Jared was sitting cross-legged on the bed surrounded by his school books and magazines while the TV played in the background.

The younger man knew that when Jensen took off each afternoon, he was checking in with his boss, so he tried to sound calm and easy-going each time he asked his question no matter how much he feared what the answer would be.

“They’re not going to order me to kill you, Jared,” Jensen snorted with as much conviction as he could still muster even though he was beginning to have his own doubts.

“Sure, you keep telling yourself that, Jensen,” Jared replied with a dry little grin, relaxing as he was tossed new magazines but also tipping his face up. “Did you get me coffee?”

“Hell no, I didn’t get you coffee,” Jensen replied with a laugh, holding out a bottle of water. “You get hyper enough with soda so I will never buy you coffee, Jared.” He grabbed Jared’s wrist and unlocked the cuff, trusting the boy to behave now that he was back in the room.

That was another one of the changes that had happened between them. Jensen stopped calling Jared ‘kid’ unless it was to annoy him, instead making an effort to use his name, and Jared was doing the same. Of course that wasn’t the most significant change.

“I did bring you a candy bar.” He held out the treat that he’d learned was Jared’s favorite candy before leaning down to cup Jared’s chin in his palm, lightly brushing his lips across the upturned ones that met his. “He’ll deal for you, Jay. He won’t get you killed.”

Jared wanted to believe that but feared he knew the truth. He also feared the pain that this would ultimately bring them both. He was honestly trying to blame his feelings for Jensen on Stockholm Syndrome, but he suspected the feelings were real…and he knew they were mutual.

He was about to make another comment when his eyes happened to catch something on TV and his breath caught in his throat. “Oh my God,” he breathed, eyes going wide.

“Jared?” Jensen turned to see the TV was paused on a split screen of Jared’s father and Pellegrino, and as he read the caption, the ex-soldier lunged for the remote to turn it up.

“ _…Padalecki was found murdered in his home late last night in what is believed to have been a home invasion. The FBI agent in charge of the case believes it may be related to a current case he is sitting on as well as the kidnapping of his only son, Jared. No other comments from the police or federal authorities on the case have been released nor has anyone said how the hunt for the still missing college student will be affected and…_ ’”

“Son of a bitch!” Jensen growled, feeling ice cold fingers trying to grip his hand, and he dropped to sit beside Jared whose eyes were still locked on the screen. “Jared, I…” He wanted to soothe, to comfort, to stop the panic he could see building in Jared’s eyes when he felt his phone vibrate. “You bastard!” he growled when he grabbed the phone, standing to move away from the bed. “You knew he was dead when we talked! He didn’t give in, so what happened, Pellegrino? Did you have Welling and his pals kill the Judge?”

A dry laugh was heard over the crackling line. “It doesn’t matter who did it or how the good Judge met his end, Jensen,” Mark Pellegrino told him, sounding amused until his voice suddenly turned cold and hard. “With the old man out of the way, my case will be handled by someone we can control…so that means your assignment is over.”

Blood running cold, Jensen clenched the phone; he saw Jared slip off the bed to drop to the floor and back his way into a corner, his knees drawn up and lips silently pleading. Jensen stared at those wide, wet, and almost knowing eyes as he felt the bottom fall out of his world.

“What…what does that mean exactly?” he asked tightly, silently hoping it wasn’t what Jared had been saying it would be from the start. “If my job’s over, what…what do I do with him? How do I let him go now?”

The laugh he heard was cruel, cold. “You don’t let him go, Ackles.” Pellegrino laughed, enjoying the ex-Ranger’s sense of humor. “He knows too much and there’s no sense leaving any loose ends this time. Kill the boy…try to enjoy it…make him suffer like his father and of course he precious mother suffered.”

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Three**

As the order was given Jensen Ackles wasn’t certain which sound was louder, his own heart beating in his ears or the harsh gasps coming from the desperate boy in the corner.

“Ex- _cuse_ me?” He finally found his voice when he realized his boss, Mark Pellegrino, had fallen silent as if waiting for his confirmation. “I think my phone just malfunctioned while you were speaking because I could’ve sworn you just told me to kill this kid.” He heard a soft, barely covered sob from across the room and felt his heart tear a little; he also felt a surge of something else surfacing…something he hadn’t allowed himself to feel in a long time.

“Well, he is the last loose end to this little endeavor, and since he’s seen your face, it only made sense that he be eliminated, Mr. Ackles.” Pellegrino’s tone became stilted and cold; he was obviously unhappy with being questioned. “That’s why I gave this job to you…killing outright is still something you seem to have a problem with. I figured this would be the perfect time to prove to me that I didn’t make a mistake when I hired you for my organization.”

“You told me he’d be let go! Like all that others you’d…” A sudden sick feeling hit him, and Jensen knew. “You bastard. None of the people Welling or the others kidnapped ever got set free, did they? You lied to me when you told me you just wanted Jared kidnapped to put pressure on his father. You always planned on killing them both!”

“If I had told you that you’d be killing the punk, would you have taken the job, Jensen?” the man asked snidely; the sound of a pen clicking on his desk could be heard. “You have wonderful potential to go far with me…once you get past that pesky little piece of mortality you’re still holding onto. Now…you’ve been on this case long enough. Kill the punk and I’ll send some men up to help dispose of his body and clean up the scene.”

Lifting his eyes up, Jensen let them meet and hold hazel ones; it was obvious that the longer this conversation went on, the more fear was building in the young man. Since he’d started paying more attention to Jared as a person and not as a job, since he’d finally dropped some of his walls, Jensen had learned to read Jared’s different expressions, and he could almost see what the was thinking of doing. He cursed as he realized Jared was completely unrestrained at the moment.

Jensen took a careful step toward him, holding his hand out as if to soothe or calm a frightened animal, but the shock of learning about his father’s death combined with the knowledge of what Jensen must be getting ordered to do finally snapped the 21-year-old’s composure, and before the older man could lunge to grab him, Jared pushed to his feet and bolted out the unlocked motel room door.

“ _Sonuvabitch_!” Jensen snarled, angry at himself for not predicting that this would happen and also for not believing Jared earlier. “No.” He suddenly spoke to the man on the other end of his phone; the one who seemed to think the curse had been aimed at him. “Oh, did you think I was cussing you out? No, if that remark had been aimed at you, you cold-hearted, lying, bastard, it would have been way more intense. Oh, and just in case you were thinking that any of my words or my silence meant that I agreed with you…that I was killing this kid? Think again. You can take this job, your money, your attitude, and your threats and shove them up your goddamn ass.”

“Ackles, don’t make a mistake you’ll regret,” Pellegrino growled, no longer humored by the former Army Ranger’s quirks or qualms about killing innocents. He refused to be disobeyed and he refused to let that boy remain alive again. “Kill the brat anyway you want. You don’t have to draw it out if you’re that squeamish. Just kill him and leave his carcass to rot…but kill him!”

Since joining the Army, Jensen had become conditioned to obey when given strict orders. He’d done so his whole career…even when obeying had cost him that career and led him into the life he led now. He’d done plenty for Pellegrino that he hadn’t liked, but for the first time since he was 18 years old, he didn’t feel the instant need to obey.

In fact as he listened to the man shout orders about killing Jared, he felt a calmness settling over him. “No, I won’t kill him,” he replied coolly, hearing but ignoring the sound of teeth clenching. “I should’ve never taken this job, but I was stupid and believed your damn lies. You killed the judge. You don’t need to take an innocent young man’s life as well.”

“Ackles, are you refusing to finish this assignment?” Pellegrino demanded tightly, clearly furious. “This is a very bad decision on your part, Jensen. This boy is not worth the money you can make working for me or the other perks the come with being a part of my corporation.”

“Yeah, I think I’m getting a handle on what you people consider ‘perks’.” Jensen knew he had to get off the phone and go after Jared. The weather up here in the Northern Cascades was hard to predict, and that day it had gone from mild to downright cold, and snow was in the forecast for the overnight hours. However, Jensen also knew that he would probably have more than the weather to worry about pretty soon. “You can take your job, your money, your perks and go to hell, Pellegrino.”

He was struggling with his jacket while holding his phone when he heard the deep sigh that he knew was more frustration than regret.

“Very well. I hope some boy you barely know is worth your life,” Pellegrino commented. “I guess it’s a good thing I was advised to send a back-up squad just in case something like this happened. I’m sure young Mr. Padalecki will appreciate the sacrifice you’ve made…as you both die. Goodbye, Jensen.”

Jensen’s sixth sense for danger kicked in and he was reaching for the Beretta on the table even as he was dropping the phone and turning. The motel room door exploded in to let two guys that he had never seen before but who he suspected had been hired by Pellegrino to kill him even if he had completed the job as ordered.

If the man had sent Welling with his team of assholes then Jensen might have been more alarmed, but as the two jackasses stormed the room with their silenced guns pointed down he knew they were rookies…and cocky ones at that.

Pellegrino was arrogant enough to think Jensen wouldn’t have been expecting some type of set-up sometime along the way, so he sent rookies, confident that they would be taking him by surprise.

Jensen might have fallen for the man’s lies, but he wasn’t completely stupid. Even before the conversation ended, the soldier figured he’d already given the other squad the notice to take him out. The only thing he feared was that normally kill-teams ran in 3 or 4-man units, so that meant Jared was in even more danger.

Diving to the floor, he rolled to bring his 9mm up to bear on the gunman nearest him who was staring slack-jawed at his evasive move. Jensen knew there were men to bargain with and men too dumb to talk. One look told him into which category these two fell so his finger was already pulling the trigger.

As soon as the first shot was made, he was tracking the other shooter, taking advantage of the guy’s brief moment of stunned shock as he watched his buddy’s chest spurt blood from the heart shot. “How many more of you are there?” he asked sharply. Muzzled leveled at the guy’s face, Jensen easily came to his feet. “How many out there?”

“O…one! He went after the kid.” The guy blinked before dropping to the floor, not even hearing the silenced shot that struck him in the chest.

“Thanks.” Jensen was already moving. He grabbed the dead guys’ IDs, phones, and extra ammo before shoving Jared’s stuff into the already heavy pack. He tossed what little they had into the SUV because he knew that once this failure got back to Pellegrino, it wouldn’t be long before he sent out the real hunt-kill team and then things would be interesting.

He didn’t have time to deal with the bodies as he reloaded his weapon before breaking into a run, following the erratic tracks left by Jared’s feet…Jensen moved faster when he remembered that Jared had been sitting cross-legged on the bed…without his boots…

“Fuck!” he snarled when it dawned on him that in his haste and fear, Jared had run into the thick cold woods in only his socks. And it was supposed to snow. Jensen yanked his phone back out to try to call a number that he hadn’t used since being hired by Pellegrino.

The call was picked up after two rings. “The op and I are blown. Pellegrino’s sending kill teams in probably within the hour. I’ll text my last location and turn on the tracker signal. He’s obsessed with killing the…with killing Jared. He’s run off, and there’s a gunner after him. As soon as I grab him, I’m heading for the cabin so if you’re paying attention, then you better have your ass moving because this op is not costing Jared his life.”

Jensen hit disconnect, slipped the phone into his pocket, and then ran hard, hoping that this incident hadn’t cost him the fragile trust Jared had been showing in him.

It wasn’t until he really hit the sharp, rocky, tree limb covered, and uneven ground in the thick woods in the back of the motel that Jared realized he’d been stupid enough to bolt without his boots or even his heavy shirts. All he had on were his jeans, a thin t-shirt, and socks.

“Damn it! Stupid idiot!” He slashed at the tears on his face that were clouding his vision as he tried to run, but he knew he wasn’t going to get far without shoes. Already the soles of his feet were torn and bleeding through the socks.

He wasn’t really angry at Jensen despite the surge of terror he’d felt in the room at facing his own death at the hands of a man he’d almost been certain he was becoming attracted to. Jared was angry at himself for letting himself fall for the guy when he knew, eventually, the man would get the orders to kill him…especially after he’d figured out who had hired him to begin with.

If Jared had known it was that man, the man that his dad had been trying to put away, if he had caught on sooner that it had been Mark Pellegrino who’d ordered his kidnapping, then he would’ve saved Jensen the trouble and managed to get a hold of the man’s gun and taken his own life.

Jared’s fear of that man was stronger than his fear of anything anything else. While his memory of the worst night of his life might be a bit muddled and confused, he did clearly remember a few things from that night, and the things he remembered still gave him nightmares. He often woke up seeing his mother’s lifeless body, but more terrifying were the nights when he woke up remembering the cold shark-like eyes of the man who’d tormented him for days and hurt and finally killed his mother.

Jared began to stumble as his wounded feet grew numb from the cold. He knew it was too cold for him to be out in the wood the way he was dressed, but he didn’t know what else to do. Surely Jensen has left the motel room and was out, searching for him, determined to follow his final orders. Jared stopped to rest for just a moment, his breathing puffing out in front of his face in icy clouds. As he rested against a tree, he realized he could hear other footsteps not too far away. Crap! It had to be Jensen, tracking him down, making sure he didn’t get out of the woods alive. Jared choked back a sob and began to run again, though he couldn’t really feel his feet at all anymore. Each time he fell, it became increasingly more difficult to get back to his feet.

Tripping over a limb, Jared went down hard, and this time, he didn’t even try to get up. He knew it was hopeless. He wasn’t going to be able to get away. He was starting to wish that he’d stayed in the room, that he’d trusted Jensen, but the terror and panic had been overwhelming. He hadn’t wanted to die. He still didn’t want to die. He also didn’t want to watch the sadness in Jensen’s eyes when he aimed the gun to kill him after spending so long telling him that he wouldn’t be killed. He rubbed at his face with fingers that felt like blocks of ice as large snowflakes began to fall on him. The younger man wondered if Jensen would even bother to continue tracking him, or if would just let the elements do his job for him.

Swallowing back the sob that wanted to come, he closed his eyes to remember the first time Jensen had kissed him. It had taken both men off guard. It was on one of the nights when Jared had tried hard not to be too annoying during the day. The higher up they got, the brighter the stars seemed to be, so Jared loved the rare opportunities Jensen gave him to step outside of the room at night and gaze at the stars that shined so brilliantly overhead.

That night he’d been excited because although it had been raining all day, the sky had cleared as night fell and Jensen had promised to let him have plenty of time outside. When he stepped out, he’d reached back to grab Jensen by the arm and pulled the resigned man out with him. He stood next to Jensen, almost forgetting the man was his kidnapper, and started to point out various stars and constellations.

When a shooting star flashed across the sky, Jared forgot where he was and what was happening to him. Without thinking, he stepped farther out, laughing happily, as he watched it shoot across the sky. It had been his first real honest laugh, complete with dimples, since he’d been grabbed, but he loved watching the stars and learning about space.

He’d been trying to explain the science behind shooting stars to Jensen when he felt warm hands on his face. His tongue suddenly froze at the depth of emotion he saw in those deep green eyes a second before lips gently, far more gently than Jared had expected, brushed over his in a slow soft kiss that left him wide-eyed…and wanting more.

“When I told you that you were good-looking that first night, it was actually the understatement of the century,” Jensen murmured softly, caressing his thumb up along a high cheekbone that was flushed from the crisp night air and the rush of emotion that confused him. “With those big dark eyes flecked with gold, that smile that’s a double strength weapon when the dimples come out, you’re more than good looking, Jared. The first time I saw you up close, the words hot and stunning actually came to mind.”

Jared blushed red, lashes lowering to hide his eyes while trying to drop his chin only to have it tipped back up. “I…I thought you said you were done teasing me like that,” he mumbled, chest tight, and he wondered if he was still actually breathing.

“I’m not teasing,” Jensen replied seriously, knowing he wasn’t, but not sure what the hell he was doing. This was so not a good plan given the situation they were both in and how much farther he would probably have to go before this was over. “Not now, not about this, Jared. Not about you or how much I really want to kiss you again. Can I?”

“You…you can.” Jared’s eyes moved to Jensen’s lips, which now that he was paying more attention looked really soft and kissable. “I mean…I’m still…and you’re…”

A light finger on his lips stopped him. “That’s what’s gonna make what I want to happen between us really complicated right now.” Jensen wanted to kiss the boy again. He really wanted to take him back inside and see just how much he knew, but he also feared that right now Jared would confuse things and think he didn’t have a choice so with one last kiss to the corner of a curving mouth, he slipped his hand down to hold onto Jared’s hesitantly, unsure how the touch would be accepted. “Show me more of these stars you keep babbling about.”

Now Jared looked up at the sky, but the clouds kept him from seeing any stars. He wished he could see them again. He wished he’d met Jensen any other time, any other place, under any other circumstances. He wished they could be together. He wished Jensen’s feelings for him were real and not just a game to pass the lonely time with.

A branch cracked just a few feet away and he let out a sob, looking up and expecting to see familiar green eyes in a handsomely rugged face with short hair. Instead, he stared at the short red haired guy who was coming up to him, and Jared tried to scramble back, but his frozen limbs refused to cooperate.

“Looks like the boss was smart to listen to Welling and not trust Ackles to pull this job off,” the guy sneered, standing over the boy as he screwed a silencer onto the blue/black pistol that he then aimed steadily. “He always was too soft hearted for this gig…and now his soft head is probably blown all over those walls back there.”

That made Jared’s heart skip again, but this time his fear wasn’t for himself but for Jensen. “No…can’t…let someone else die cause…cause of me.” He heard his voice stuttering but wasn’t sure if it was cold or terror.

“Oh, Ackles was walking a tightrope with the boss way before this happened, pretty boy,” the assassin remarked, stepping closer to aim the gun at Jared’s face. He shook his head, and then knelt beside the trembling boy, brushing a stray lock of hair back with the barrel of the gun. Jared closed his eyes and waited to die. “Ackles was a damn fool,” the killer pronounced. “The things I woulda done if I had you all to myself for a week.” He gave a high pitched laugh that cut off abruptly when he suddenly tipped over, falling to the ground with a shocked looked on his face.

“When you see Pellegrino in hell, you can tell him who ended up with his brains splattered on the landscape, asshole,” Jensen growled, stepping into the pathway with his weapon still aimed. He stood still another second and then a soft sound had him breaking forward with a mutter of exasperated frustration. “And you…I should’ve just let you freeze your damn ass off. Damn it, Jay! What the hell were you thinking running off with no shoes…not even a long-sleeved shirt.”

Jensen shoved his weapon under his belt at the small of his back and hurried to where Jared was curled in on himself at the base of a tree. Even from this distance he could see how bad he was shaking. “Jared?”

Blinking his eyes and feeling the tears actually forming little ice crystals on his lashes and cheeks, Jared pulled his gaze away from the now dead killer to realize Jensen was there, that Jensen had shot the man who wanted to kill him. Then the frustrated question clicked.

“I…I was thinkin’ you were…being told to kill me…and I…I got scared cause of who…your boss is and…” Jared’s teeth were chattering so hard from cold, confusion, and fear that they were starting to hurt…his skin and eyes were starting to hurt. “I…I k…know I said you’d have to…but it scared me to have to look…at you…when you did it and if…if I’d have known who it was…”

“Jared, listen to me.” Jensen knelt and quickly pulled his jacket off so he could wrap it around the shaking younger man. He tried to use what little light was available from the darkening sky to see if he was injured and inwardly winced at the spots of blood on his socks. He knew he had to get them moving and fast. “I told you from the start that you weren’t dying and you aren’t.”

“But…but he told you to!” Jared sobbed out, emotions running wild. He was unaware of when his numb fingers reached out to curl into Jensen’s shirt. “He had my Dad killed just…like he killed Momma…and now he’ll never stop until…until he kills me cause he…it was supposed to be me who died…but my mom…but…please Jen, I don’ wanna die…but if I have to…I want you…you to do it and not…not him!”

Frowning as he recognized the honest to God fear in those big, too glassy hazel eyes, a cold ball of unease began to build in Jensen’s stomach, but this wasn’t the place to get into a long discussion. He could tell how cold Jared was and easily recognized the early signs of hypothermia. He needed to get this boy warm, and it needed to happen fast.

“Jay, I’m not killing you.” He slipped his hands up to cup cold cheeks and stared intently into those beautiful, hazel eyes. “I told Pellegrino where he could stick his orders, his job, his money. I told him and now I’ll tell you…I am not killing you and neither will anyone he might send after us. I’m not gonna lie to you again…he will send a team after us, but I _will_ keep you safe.”

“But…killing people…that’s…that’s your job ain’t it?” Jared didn’t notice the slur in his voice, but he did notice it seemed harder than usual to get his words out. “I…I’m nothin’. Never…was. Why…would you risk your life for me?”

The answer was clear, and unlike so many times recently when Jensen would push it aside or refuse to let the feelings much less the words out, he eased closer to press a kiss against Jared’s forehead. “Because I love you, Jared. I’m not exactly sure when it happened…but at some point, I fell in love with you.”

Jensen wasn’t sure what it was about this fresh faced young man with a love of the stars that had caused all his hard shells to fall, but he’d known since the night he’d first held him after that brutal nightmare that his heart was long gone, and that he’d do whatever he needed to do to ensure Jared’s safety…even if it meant ruining someone else’s long term goals.

Jared was stunned by the unexpected words and also by the honesty he could see on Jensen’s face. His body was stiff and cold as he pushed away from the tree to move forward into the open arms that welcomed him. Jared felt the hard, warm chest and the strong arms that embraced him, and suddenly he just wanted to be warm.

“C…cold,” he stuttered, wanting to never move out of the strong arms that held him, but he felt Jensen trying to get him to his sore and nearly numb feet. “Jen…I…can’t feel my feet…or my fingers.”

That wasn’t what Jensen wanted to hear and he quickly added frostbite to his list of worries. “I want you to put your arm around my neck and let me take your weight. I need to get you into the SUV and start getting you warm.”

“I…I can walk…” Jared started to say only to nearly fall when he tried to put weight on his feet and felt his legs buckle. “Jensen?” He knew he was a little skinny, still gangly, but he was a little taller than the ex-soldier, so it shocked him when he was literally swept off his feet. “You…you can’t carry me back.”

“Watch me,” Jensen muttered, glad he had moved the SUV closer because while in good shape, he could feel the strain in his arms and thighs. He knew, however, that it would be simpler and faster to carry Jared than to let him walk and risk having him fall and hurting himself even more.

By the time he got them back to the SUV, he could no longer hear Jared’s teeth chattering, and he realized with some alarm that Jared wasn’t shivering anymore. He knew that meant the hypothermia was more severe than he’d thought and he was glad that he’d already used the remote starter to get the vehicle running. The heat was on so the interior of the car was already warmer than the outside air, and it felt like heaven when Jensen opened the door and maneuvered the younger man into the front seat.

He quickly wrapped a blanket around Jared and after peeling off his ruined socks, swathed his bare feet in his jacket. Jensen hated having to hook the seatbelt, but he couldn’t run the risk of getting stopped by some over-zealous small-town cop. “As soon as we’re clear of this place, I’ll run through someplace and get you something hot to drink. Then we’ll find a room so we can get you warm.” He squeezed a cold hand and kept his face calm when he only felt a weak response. “Jared? I’m sorry this has gone so far. I’m…sorry about your dad too.”

Now that he could feel the heat blowing around him, Jared’s lids felt like lead, and Jensen’s voice sounded like it was coming through a long tunnel. He did hear the quiet apology and the slight guilt reflected in the husky voice. “Not…not your fault,” he mumbled, trying to hang onto his awareness. “Just…just wanna be warm.”

“I’ll get you warm soon, babe,” Jensen promised, giving another squeeze to Jared’s hand before hurrying to the driver’s side. He paused to look back at the motel, wishing he could cover their tracks better than he had, but he knew he needed to get them moving. He’d wanted to drive straight through to a place he knew was safe, but with Jared so cold and so pale, the ex-Special Forces operative knew it was more important to get him warm.

Getting behind the wheel, Jensen adjusted the vents to blow more toward Jared while reaching over to push back that unruly hair. Jared’s face was still frighteningly cold and he could see a bruise from where he must have hit something on his run through the woods. “It’s gonna be fine, kiddo. I’ve got this.”

He’d backed out of the lot, flipped the GPS on to find the closest fast food place, and was trying to figure out the best place to hole down for the night so he could get Jared’s body temperature back up when one of the phones he’d grabbed from the asshole killers began to ring.

“Don’t be scared, Jared,” he told the half asleep young man next to him while grabbing the generic looking phone and flipping it open.

“So, Mr. Tatum, is the job complete?” Pellegrino’s voice sounded so arrogant and cocky that Jensen wished he could see his face when he popped this particular balloon.

“That depends on your definition of complete,” Jensen replied with a harder edge to his tone, smirking as he heard something break. “Does your ‘elite kill team’ having their brains blown out qualify as complete? Here’s a piece of advice, Pellegrino; the next time you send some jackasses to kill me, send someone who knows what the hell they’re doing. Oh and just so you know…I will bring your little house of cards crashing down. Bye, jackass.”

He disconnected the phone, tossed it in the backseat toward his bag while pulling his phone, his real cell-phone, out of his pocket. He looked beside him and was relieved to see that Jared was starting to shiver again. He had to consider it a step in the right direction. He quickly pushed a button on his phone.

“Hey, I won’t make Mt. Baker tonight. He’s hypothermic from running through those woods, and I need to stop and get him warm before it gets any worse.” He dropped his voice and tone back to his more normal deep husky one with just a touch of a drawl. “Also, as soon as I stop, I’m sending you a zip file with data in it. It’s all that I’ve been able to copy off the dick’s servers without them getting suspicious.”

As they entered a small town, Jensen slowed down to avoid being stopped and passed the first place he saw because he wanted to put some distance between them and the dead bodies he’d just left behind. He sighed at the deep voice that was barking at him. “Yes, I’m aware of what I’ve done. Yes, I know this has moved the time table up. Now ask me if I give a fuck! I’m tired of caring about rules and mission specs. I care about him.” Tucking the phone against his shoulder, Jensen’s hand moved over to pull the blanket back up closer to Jared’s neck when it fell as he moved restlessly in his uneasy sleep. “Stop lecturing me, Morgan! You got me into this op. You told me to run with it. Now if you want the asshole, you better find a way to make this work!”

Tossing the phone onto the dash, Jensen squeezed the bridge of his nose with a muttered curse before a soft whimper beside him reminded him of the bigger picture.

A quick look at the GPS gave Jensen an idea of the best places to go that would be out of the way and also small enough so that a disturbance wouldn’t bring the damn National Guard down on them. He made a run through a fast food place for food and a very quick run into a small Mom & Pop grocery for a few supplies he might not have in the back of the SUV. He then took a side road to a small town on the fringe of the Cascades that had a few motels.

The one he chose was one with little separate cabins instead of rooms all in a row. It was a bit higher priced than the places they had been getting, but now this wasn’t on anyone’s dime but Jensen’s, and this place suited his needs.

He took the time to toss their stuff inside the cabin and, get a fire started in the large stone and brick fireplace to get additional heat into the cabin, and turn the large king-sized bed down before bringing Jared inside.

“Jay? Hey, can you wake up a second?” Jensen frowned at the way Jared’s skin was still cold to the touch despite the heat of the SUV’s heater. “C’mon, let’s get you inside and see how bad you hurt yourself.”

Jared stirred enough to walk the small distance from the SUV to the cabin, but that was only because Jensen took the most of his weight. Jensen heard the small whimper of distress which each step that Jared took and knew he had to look at those feet first.

He settled Jared on the bed, locked and secured the door and windows because the soldier in him still had habits that hadn’t been broken. Once Jensen felt they were safe for the moment, he grabbed the supplies that he needed before sitting on the bed and carefully carding his fingers back through dark hair until slowly he felt Jared shift more, responding to the touch.

“I’m going to look at your feet before we figure out the best way to warm you up.” He spoke quietly, wondering how long it had actually been since he’d actually used his real tone of voice. “I picked up some hot chocolate. You want to try to drink it while I do this?”

Jared’s lashes fluttered against his pale cheeks as if wanting to open but they only managed to open a little short of half way, shaking his head. “Cold,” he mumbled. “Sleepy.”

“I know you are, Jared.” Jensen had taken enough courses on field medicine to see the signs of hypothermia in addition to shock and neither were things he looked forward to dealing with. “You try to sleep…but this might hurt cause it looks like you got some pretty nasty cuts.”

Jensen winced as he propped the damaged feet up on pillows. He could see that Jared had indeed gotten several cuts on the bottom of his feet as well as some deep bruising from rocks and the uneven ground. “Well, you sure won’t be walking much for the next few days,” he muttered grimly after he cleaned each foot of dirt and blood and then dressed the cuts before slipping the cold feet into heavy wool socks that he’d laid by the fire to warm up.

He smiled a little at the soft sigh he heard after putting the warm socks on, but he then had an internal debate, trying to decide between waking Jared up enough to eat or just getting him warm. Even with the younger man covered with blankets he could still feel the strong tremors. When his hand touched Jared’s jeans, he realized they were still cold and wet. “Son of a bitch!”

Finding clothes in the store to fit a 6’4” body wasn’t easy, but Jensen had found a few things that would hopefully fit once Jared was awake and more coherent. Right now, however, he knew the best and fastest way to help the younger man…he was just leery about doing it given how confused Jared might still be about things. He needed him awake for a minute to explain things to him.

“Jared. Jay, wake up for me a minute.” Jensen gently shook the cold face, rubbing his hands over it until he heard a mumbled curse and saw a slit of hazel as heavy lids pried themselves open. “Hey there, sunshine. I need you to listen to me before you go back to sleep so this doesn’t freak you out or give you the wrong idea. You listening?”

“Hmmm.” Jared thought he was but since he was still freezing and so tired, he wasn’t sure as he tried to turn his cheek into the warm hand on his face.

“Jay, your body temp is still really low and your clothes are cold and wet, so that’s making it hard to get you warmed up. The fastest and safest way to warm you up…ummm…it involves skin on skin contact.” Jensen figured he’d be taking an ice cold shower after this was over because even the barest thought of being close to Jared like that had his body responding. “I promise, I’m just going to hold you so you can get warm, nothing else. Don’t get scared.”

“Kay,” Jared yawned, rubbing his eyes before drifting off again but not before offering another soft whisper that made Jensen go still. “…trust you, Jen.”

“I hope when this is over that you still will,” Jensen sighed, accepting that while most of his lies were in the past, he still had a few that he couldn’t share with Jared yet, not if he wanted to keep him safe from another side of Jensen’s life.

Needing to work quickly to get some heat against that ice-cold skin, Jensen grabbed some extra pillows that he’d been told were in the linen closet and placed them by the fire to start getting warm while he removed cold, stiff jeans and Jared’s shirt, leaving him only in his boxer briefs, which thankfully, were still dry.

Jensen could see some faded bruises on his arms and swallowed tightly, realizing that he had left those bruises there. He hadn’t realized the younger man bruised so easily and wished that he hadn’t hurt him so much in the beginning of this mess.

“I’m so sorry that you had to be involved in this, Jared,” he murmured, grabbing the pillows to place behind Jared on the bed to supply heat to his back. He took a deep breath before shedding his own clothes and boots, keeping his boxers on, and sliding into the bed.

Even before he’d pulled the blanket up to cover them Jensen was blinking when Jared moved sleepily closer as if seeking the warmth of his body.

There’d been several times lately that Jensen wondered if this boy was part octopus with the way he seemed to be all arms and legs. He’d often wake up to find Jared lying either close to him or with a restless arm or leg slung over him.

Now Jared moved directly into his arms, pressing his face into the curve between Jensen’s neck and shoulder while one arm went over his waist and the other one pressed flat over Jensen’s heart. “Hmm, warm,” he mumbled, snuggling as close as he could get and missing the flash of rare, open emotion on Jensen’s face as he watched him settle.

“You’ll be warm soon, Jared,” the soldier promised, voice thick with emotions he hadn’t let himself feel in more years than he cared to recall. His fingers brushed back through floppy dark hair as he swallowed at the surge of need that shot through him, but he merely placed a chaste kiss to Jared’s forehead as he held him.

Jensen wasn’t sure how long he lay with Jared pressed against him before he finally began to feel the shaking slowly ease off and warmth returning to the young man’s body. He felt Jared relaxing more as he got warm and could tell when his sleep deepened.

“I’ll keep you safe, Jay,” he whispered, closing his own eyes to lightly sleep while he could because Jensen feared soon sleep and safety would be a thing of the past.

 **TBC**  


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one does a short minor little scene that I'll toss out the explicit content warning for, nothing too explicit but I'll put out the warning.

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Four**

Falling asleep and sleeping soundly hadn’t been in Jensen’s plan as he lay beside Jared, continuing to provide the younger man with much needed body heat. His plan had been to rest, but to remain alert since he knew he had to keep them safe from the killers who would be hot on their heels by this point. As he slowly became aware of his surroundings, Jensen realized that his plan had failed and that he must have fallen asleep pretty damn deeply because normally he would’ve woken up at the first stirrings of the young man beside him. By the time he was fully awake, however, he knew that Jared had not only been awake for a while but was also very curious.

He’d never gotten around to asking how much experience Jared had with the physical side of things, especially sex. It had taken Jensen less than a day to figure out that Jared was gay; in fact, he had pretty much guessed it based on the overheard conversation with his aunt that very first night. Now, as he felt shy fingers roaming his bare chest while soft lips gave little light butterfly kisses over his throat and chin, he thought he’d better start asking some questions.

“Hmmm, I take it you’re warm and awake?” he asked in a voice that was heavy and rough. He wondered if it was that way because he had just woken up or if the shy boy that was still glued to him was helping in that department.

“Warmer than I was when I fell asleep,” Jared admitted quietly, lashes hiding his eyes as if he was afraid to look up and see censor or dislike in Jensen’s eyes. “I…I didn’t mean to wake you…or…umm I shouldn’t have…Jensen?”

Slipping his hand up to touch and hold a much warmer cheek, Jensen’s lips curved, noticing how Jared relaxed and smiled back every time he smiled at him now. “It’s been a long time since I’ve woken up to someone kissing me. Do you see me complaining?” he asked lightly, sensing the unease and getting his answer to whether or not Jared had much experience. “Trust me, I’m not.”

“I…woke up, but I was still kinda cold, so I wanted to stay close until you got up,” Jared murmured, shivering at the feeling of a calloused fingertip trailing up his back. He shifted as he felt an odd stirring in his belly that he hadn’t really felt before.

“Really?” Jensen noticed the fire had burned down; it was now just glowing embers, and he realized he’d been asleep for a lot longer than he originally thought. He knew he should be getting them up and dressed, heating up some food, sending that data that he promised to send, and then getting back on the road. He knew it…he just didn’t have the heart to bring reality crashing back down on them just yet.

He hadn’t lied when he said it had been a long time since he’d woken up to someone kissing him. It had actually been a long time since he’d woken up to anyone in his bed period, male or female. That fact was making it very difficult to keep his body’s reactions under control as Jared continued to snuggle. It certainly didn’t help that he could also feel the way Jared’s body was reacting.

“Are you still chilly now?” Jensen asked quietly, fingers moving up to gently curve around the back of Jared’s neck. “If you are, I can build the fire up…or…” He paused a beat and then gently leaned closer to run his lips over Jared’s jawline, slowly moving closer to his ear. “…or I could warm you up myself.”

A few days ago a highly suggestive comment like that would’ve had Jared tensing in fear and looking for a way out. He knew it should still scare him since his biggest experience with any kid of sex was a few porn videos. He really didn’t even have any experience kissing anyone other than that first time Jensen kissed him; he didn’t consider the few wet and messy kisses back in high school as more than trying to find himself.

Jared wasn’t sure how to answer, so when he felt his cheeks warm from the blush he was sure was there, he just nodded, hoping Jensen would know which choice he’d picked.

“Uh-huh, it’s not that simple, Jay,” Jensen smiled, lips still lightly teasing him even as he slowly eased closer to bring Jared fully in line with his body. He was a little startled at how well the younger man seemed to fit against him. “Tell me which one you want.”

“You,” Jared whispered shyly, gasping as he was nudged to his back. Jensen hovered above him, holding himself just high enough so that their chests touched. Jared felt a knee slip between his legs, and he swallowed as he let them be nudged apart. “What…umm… what do I do?”

“You just lie there and let me warm you up,” Jensen teased with a gentle kiss, enjoying the innocence shining in the big eyes that watched as he began to slowly kiss his way down from Jared’s temple to his belly button. He lifted his eyes when he felt muscles jump and heard the quickly smothered giggle. “You’re ticklish here?” He grinned and gave a slow lick with the tip of his tongue over the spot just above Jared’s navel to get his answer. “Huh. Where else are you ticklish, Jay?”

Shaking his head rapidly while trying not to squirm or laugh, Jared gasped when hot lips closed over his nipple and he groaned when he felt the stirring move from his belly to between his legs. “Not…telling you that!” he got out, fingers clenching in the covers as he realized his body was no longer cold. “Jen…what…”

“How far have you ever gone with someone, Jay?” Jensen could feel the boy’s hardening erection and knew his own probably wasn’t much better by that point because Jared’s innocent touches and soft sounds were driving him crazy and making him desperate for more than just some kissing and fooling around. “I mean, with someone other than me?”

“Got kissed a few times in high school,” Jared admitted, feeling his face flush again with embarrassment. He knew he was naïve and inexperienced, and he still doubted his looks despite what Jensen said. “They were messy and not too good. I…I like your kisses better.”

That quiet admission had Jensen fighting back a moan while sliding back up to lie beside Jared, pulling him back into his arms. He wanted more. He wanted to give and show Jared more but he was afraid that right now, with everything that was still going on, the naïve and confused young man might think he had to do something more, something to “earn his keep,” something that he might not be ready for. Jensen cursed himself for the teasing he had indulged in that first night.

“Jen?” Jared was confused. He could feel something change and feared his inexperience had changed Jensen’s mind about what he thought was happening…what he really wanted to happen. “Did I do…say something wrong?” he asked, arching into the touch of fingers that slid between them to begin to slowly rub over his growing cock still trapped in his boxer briefs. “You…you can do whatever you…mmhm,” he groaned into a lips that met his in a hotter kiss.

“That’s what I don’t want you to think or say, babe.” Jensen longed for the chance to make love with Jared, but given what he had put the younger man through over the past week, he was determined to do this one thing right. He would not allow this sweet innocent young man’s first time be with someone like him, someone who he feared Jared might still think of as his captor. “I need you to understand that stopping this…what we both know this was leading to…stopping from making love with you is the absolute hardest thing for me to do, and I swear, it’s got nothing to do with you.

“I want you, Jay. I want to be your first…maybe even your only lover, but I know you’re young and you’ve got your whole life ahead of you after this is over. You’re going to go back to school and forget all about me; you’re gonna get over the nightmares this week will give you, and find a great guy who deserves you… and you’re gonna be happy.” He tried to ignore the burning in his eyes or the trembling lips he kissed softly while feathering his fingers over Jared’s cheek to offer a slow smile that showed more emotion than he’d allowed anyone to see in nearly 10 years.

“I promise that I’m telling you the truth, Jay. When I say that I love you…and that you’re more than good looking…that’s true. You managed to break down walls that I’ve had up for years…I honestly didn’t think anyone would be able to do that…but you did,” He could see Jared’s eyes were wet but also dark as he decided to give him at least one thing. “I can’t promise to never lie to you again…there are things that I can’t tell you yet because I’m trying to keep you safe…but I do promise to never hurt you or let you be hurt by that asshole or his bastards.” Jensen paused, looking at the young man beside him and wished, more than anything, that they had met under different circumstances. “God, Jay…if I could make just one wish, if there was one thing that I would ever want out of whatever I have left of my life, I would want to be your lover, your friend…your partner.”

Jared tried to not let the tears he could feel fall, but knew he was unsuccessful when Jensen’s fingers brushed them away. “You…you can be those things, Jen,” he got out past the lump in his throat. He’s never expected to feel anything like he did for this man, a man that he’d once feared. “I…I love you too. I know this might not be real yet but it could be. I…I want you to make love with me before I…before I die.”

“Jay? Tell me what’s wrong. What’s scaring you right now? Why do you still think you’re going to die? I told you I was gonna keep you safe.” Jensen eased his hand away because he could feel the tension returning in Jared.

Jared’s eyes dropped, finger tracing along Jensen’s chest, seeming to take special interest in the few scars he found there. “He’s not going to give up until I’m dead, Jensen,” he murmured, “I’ll…get it if you want to cut your losses after we have sex and go. That way only one of us has to die. I mean, it’s not your job to protect me from…”

“I made it my job. I just promised you I wasn’t going hurt you or let you get hurt. I said I loved you,” Jensen hated the fear he caught coming over Jared again as well as the tension. “Pellegrino’s an asshole, and yeah, he might make some trouble for us…but he’ll find pretty quickly that I can make trouble right back for him…in ways he won’t be expecting but…you gonna tell me why finding out who was behind this job scared you so much, Jay? Why you’re afraid of him? And by the way…I’m not going to just make love with you and then leave you…now or later. Jared, tell me why Pellegrino scares you.”

Accepting that the moment was gone for now, Jared pushed up so he could sit with his back to the headboard and a pillow clutched to his chest. He chewed his lip while watching as Jensen moved from the bed to build up the fire and pull on a pair of faded jeans, leaving the button undone, before settling back on the bed with him as if he was truly curious to why one man’s voice and cold shark eyes would terrify him.

“Do…do you remember when I said that when I was five my Mom and I were kidnapped by some drug lord’s goons cause he wanted Dad to fudge some evidence?” he asked quietly, grateful to feel the strong arm that slipped around his shoulders along with a blanket to keep him from getting cold again.

“Yeah.” Jensen did and he feared where this might be leading. Some things he could recall seeing in Pellegrino’s files that hadn’t made sense to him…until now. “Jared?”

“He…your…Pellegrino…he worked for the drug guy back then or something. I heard my Dad talking about it when I got older cause he sort of became obsessed with taking him down after he moved up through the ranks, actually got the support to kill his boss and took over everything.” Jared usually tried to not think back too far, to remember that horrible time, because it was still so hard. “Even back then he just had this cold voice and eyes that scared me. He loved to torment me, make me cry when he scared me, or…burned me with a cigar.”

Jensen’s jaw clenched as that explained the faded scars he’d seen littered over Jared’s body. “He…you’re sure it’s him?” he asked tightly.

“I’ll never forget those eyes, Jen.” Jared tightened his arms around the pillow and only because he was tucked tighter against Jensen’s side did he resist the urge to draw his legs up as if seeking to protect himself from the memories. “I was only five but I’ll never forget his eyes. He…he’d been hitting me one day…so much that it hurt to breath…even then I think I knew I was going to die…when my Momma…God, she was so brave when she’d stand up to him and the others…even though she knew they’d turn their anger on her…that day she’d gotten her hands free and she…she clawed his face. She screamed at him to leave me alone…that if he wanted to hurt anyone then hurt her. He…he did.” He closed his eyes as the memories came back and before he knew it, he could feel Jensen holding him while he sobbed out details that he’d never been able to tell anyone until now.

Jensen swallowed, burying his rage at everyone involved, everyone who had allowed a small, confused, and terrified boy, a boy who’d already been hurt and tormented, to have to watch someone like Mark Pellegrino beat and then rape his mother. Everyone who had allowed that boy to be forced to watch before being blindfolded and knocked out only to wake up to the feel of what would be his mother’s blood around him, unable to understand that she wouldn’t ever wake up.

If he hadn’t already planned to see the bastard burn for other reasons, Jensen would now make sure to bring Pellegrino down for this. But that was later, now he had to focus on soothing the sobbing young man in his arms. “Shhh, it’s okay, Jay. It’s okay. He won’t hurt you,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to the top of Jared’s head. “I can’t give you back that time or take those nightmares away from you…or even take back the ones this time will cause, but I will keep you safe, and I will find a way to make sure he pays for all of it.”

Jensen continued to sit and hold Jared until he heard his breathing begin to calm down and felt his shaking ease up a little. “How about you go take a hot shower or bath while I see if I can actually heat up some of the food I bought last night?” he suggested, nodding to a pile of folded clothes on a stand by the bathroom door. “Those should fit you and be warm enough.”

“Okay, thanks.” Jared didn’t really want to move. He was really comfortable where he was, but he couldn’t deny that he did feel sort of grungy so with a sigh, he pulled himself out of Jensen’s arms. He hissed when he stood and felt his feet ache when he put weight on them. “Ow!”

“Yeah, those are gonna hurt.” Jensen stood to offer an arm, helping him into the bathroom and smiling when he heard the soft sound Jared made when he saw what had made him blink the night before. “If we had more time and I trusted that we were safe, we’d definitely be staying here long enough to try out that tub to the fullest degree of our capabilities,” he remarked, relaxing a little more at the small shy smile that coaxed out of Jared. “Take your time.”

Jared was still staring at the huge sunk in tub/shower with handles in the shape of moose antlers; it looked like it was big enough for 4 full-sized people. He considered the things that a man with Jensen’s experience might be able to do in one of those…then suddenly realized that the man in question had been speaking to him, and he blushed hotly as he glanced over to see amusement shining in green eyes.

“You back with me now?” Jensen teased with a low husky chuckle, guessing what Jared might have been thinking about just by the way his cheeks flamed. “I asked if you wanted to me close the door all the way or leave it open a little in case you need anything?”

It was right then that Jared finally began to see that things had seriously changed between them. This was the first time that Jensen had ever asked him that. In fact, this was the first time since things had started to relax between them days ago that Jared felt he could ask for the door to be closed…and it would be.

“Can…can you leave it open a crack?” he asked, catching the surprise and guessing Jensen was probably expecting him to want the privacy after not being allowed any for so long. “I…I think I need to…to be able to hear you…just in case…”

A hand curved over his cheek. “No one is going to hurt you, babe,” Jensen promised seriously. “Take your time and call if you need me. I’ll be right out here.”

As Jared nodded, Jensen stepped out, leaving the door open just enough that he could hear Jared, but still giving him some privacy.

He began to heat up some food and figured out the coffee pot before pulling out his laptop that had been safely stored all this time to try to find the files he needed to send. By the time he had food warmed and ready on the table along with coffee and juice, Jensen was growling at the damn cursed device in front of him.

“Where the hell are you, you stupid file?” He hated this thing and had ever since he’d bought it. Jensen wasn’t ashamed to admit that technology wasn’t his strong suit; it had taken him six months just to figure out his damn smartphone. Now it seemed that this laptop had developed a mind of its own and decided to hide the files he needed to send…files that he’d stolen carefully just for this case. “This is why paper files were so much better…harder to steal but less of a hassle.”

“What’re you looking for?” Jared had soaked long enough to relieve the stress and leftover chill before washing off, cringing as he looked at his feet; he knew they’d need to be redressed but managed to get himself out of the tub, dried, and dressed without falling. He’d also shaved with the razor and shaving cream he noticed had been left out so by the time he stepped out of the bathroom, he actually felt quite a bit better. He paused in the bathroom doorway when he noticed Jensen looking like he might pull his gun on the laptop in front of him.

“Since I got deep enough in with the asshole, I’ve been managing to grab copies of certain files and putting them into a…zippy file or something. Now that I need to send them to someone, I can’t find the damn things and I think this laptop is laughing at me.” Jensen gave the screen a dark look before looking over to run his tongue over his teeth, reminding himself again of all the reasons why he could not toss the kid on the bed and just kiss him senseless.

Jared still looked pale and uneasy, but he made his way slowly to the table and sat down with a groan of pain. “I…I could try to find them if you wanted,” Jared offered, seeing that the laptop was one of the newer, more advanced ones that he’d been looking at and saving for, but he was confident he could still figure it out. “I mean, I won’t do anything else…but I can probably find the files and put them in a blank message for you to send.”

The laptop was immediately pushed across the table to him. “If you can find those damn zippy things, the first chance I get, I will give you a blowjob that will make you come so hard you will pass out,” Jensen promised, drinking his coffee as he watched a change come over Jared; he had a look similar to the one he did when he talked about the stars.

The shy, quiet boy took on a look of confidence, like he trusted himself more. It was obvious that stars and computers were part of his “comfort zone” and he thought about something else Jared had harmlessly mentioned that first night back in the library parking lot.

He was about to bring it up when suddenly he found himself staring at an open email message with several attached files in the subject line and Jared watching him curiously. “Huh. Okay…it looks like I owe you a blowjob sometime.” Jensen entered the address he needed, typed a brief message, and hit send before leaning back to eye the younger man. “How well can you hack?”

“Is that a wise thing for me to admit to some type of undercover fed?” Jared countered easily, not sounding upset or angry or even a little curious. Only his big eyes gave away his mild curiosity as he leaned over to motion to a line of letters and numbers that was gibberish to Jensen. “That’s a root account to some hidden agency within the government,” he explained, clarifying his reason for assuming Jensen was more than a hired hood.

“I hacked the FBI databases when I was 14 just to show my Dad I wasn’t lying when I said I could. After that I tried to figure out all the backdoors into the various agencies. They’re all different except for the root numbers that go with all the IP address of email addresses.” He lifted his eyes warily as if afraid of what he might see. “This IP isn’t one I’ve seen so that could mean it’s a black ops or highly classified set…but it also means you’re not who you were pretending to be too. Is…Is this part of that stuff you said you couldn’t tell me to keep me safe?”

Jensen was glad he hadn’t taken a sip of coffee right then because he probably would’ve choked on it. “I…yeah, most of it.” He rubbed a hand over his face, not expecting this turn of events. “I can’t tell you who I used to work for or what’s going on but…my name’s real and most of the story I gave Pellegrino was true. I was an Army Ranger before a job went bad and I was kicked out of the Army. The rest is kind of…gray for the moment, but when I can, I will tell you the truth if you still want to know.”

“You…you never really were a bad guy were you, Jensen?” Jared looked down until he felt Jensen move to kneel beside him.

“I also wasn’t really a good guy, either, Jay,” the ex-soldier replied quietly, taking a nervous hand in his to hold it. “I’ve worked for Pellegrino for almost five years and in that time, I’ve done things I’m not proud of, things that I didn’t like or approve of…but to keep my cover, to get as far as I did, I did them. When I was handed this assignment, I did actually believe he’d let you go because up until then, while I had suspicions, I’d never actually heard or seen him order someone killed. Now I know different. Now I know this was as much a test to see if I would kill an innocent as it was to get you someplace so you could be killed after he took out your Dad.

“I’ve been undercover too long and let myself slip. My mistake cost your father his life, but it won’t cost you your life.” Jensen waited to see if Jared would look at him and when he did, he didn’t see condemnation but acceptance. “I also didn’t lie to you about how I feel. I do love you, Jared.”

“I…I love you too, Jensen.” Jared hadn’t really said those words often since his mother was killed. His father wasn’t huge on expressing emotion unless it was in front of people. “Why did you ask how well I could hack?” He suddenly recalled the original question.

One of the things Jensen loved about this kid was his constant ability to amaze him with how easy he accepted and bounced back from things. “If I give you an access code, think you can hack into Pellegrino Inc.’s master computer to see what else he’s hiding that I couldn’t get to?” he asked and adored the bright dimpled smile he got in return.

“I can hack the NSA’s old databases, so yeah, I can probably get into his servers.” Jared took the laptop back and stared at the slip of paper he was shown, smirking and shaking his head. “That’s the generic server. If he’s hiding secrets anywhere, it would be deep within the master computer. Give me a few minutes.”

Jensen stood up to give him a slow deep kiss before sitting back down to give Jared quiet to do whatever it was he was doing. He repacked their bags and made sure his other weapons were where he could grab them if he needed to. He redressed the cuts on Jared’s feet before putting him back in warm wool socks and his boots. He put the food he had warmed up in front of Jared who completely ignored it as he continued typing. Finally, after nearly an hour of complete silence, he felt fingers on his arm.

“Look at this,” Jared whispered, turning the laptop so Jensen could see what he’d pulled up in one of several open windows. “Is…is this real? Is he really doing this stuff? Is he selling kids like this?”

The horror in Jared’s eyes was so real that Jensen moved his chair closer rather than move the laptop to see what the hell the kid had actually uncovered. A brief skim of the window of various lists, files, letters and an inventory sheet had him frowning as his stomach twisted.

Based on prior evidence, Jensen knew that Pellegrino was in deep with drugs, guns, prostitution and other illegal activities, but this took the bastard to a whole new low and the ex-Ranger knew he needed to go down in some way that he couldn’t buy his way out of.

“Can you send all of that to that address from earlier?” he asked while pulling his phone out to make a call rather than text. He slipped his hand to the back of Jared’s neck to feel the stress there and began to gently rub. “Jay, I swear if I would’ve picked up on this during my time there, I would’ve called the op already.” He made sure the files sent before shutting the lid of the laptop and tugged Jared closer to him as he heard the gruff growl that answered.

“You’re getting a bunch of stuff. Look at it, have someone check into it, and then call the damn op because this dickhead has to go down, JD.” Jensen rubbed over Jared’s back, feeling his arms slipping hesitantly around his waist to hold onto him. “He’s not only working kids in a few of his factories overseas, but he’s also grabbing kids off the streets to sell them into slavery. He’s selling kids! Damn it, JD! If I find out you knew about this and didn’t tip me off, then the second I see you I will punch you so goddamn hard.

“Huh? No…Jared hacked into the system and found more stuff than I did in the time I was inside.” Jensen winced at the shout that brought. He knew letting a civilian do what he just had was against the rules, but given what this had already cost Jared, he felt that his actual boss owed the kid. “We’ll be back on the road in an hour and we should be able to make it to the cabin at Mt. Baker by nightfall. I need a security team on site, JD. He’ll have Welling’s people on our asses by then. I can handle a straight on attack, but I won’t risk Jared’s life.”

Jared stayed quiet, listening to what was being said, but also what wasn’t being said. “They will come after us, won’t they?” He’d known it, but it sounded like Jensen was more worried than he’d originally let on. “I meant it when I said you can…”

“No, I’m not abandoning you.” Jensen hung up, slid the phone into his pocket, and gave a slight tug to bring Jared to his feet and into his arms. “I actually got you into this and I will get you back out…but if anything happens…if I tell you to run or do anything, I need you to listen to me and run like hell and don’t look back.” He caught and held the wide eyes with his own. “Jay, I _can_ handle this, but I need to know you’ll be safe while I do, so that means you listen to me. Okay?”

“I…” Jared shut his mouth. He knew he couldn’t do anything to help Jensen if they were attacked before what help, if any, would come. The only thing he would be was in the way, and he realized that would mean Jensen would be weakened if he had to worry about him, so he slowly nodded. “Don’t get killed?” he asked quietly, meeting the lips that touched his.

“I don’t plan on it, Jay.” Jensen gave a cocky smile before giving a little shake to a slowly relaxing shoulder. “Finish your food and then we really need to take off.”

“Do you have a plan or are we…winging it?” Jared didn’t mind the cold bacon, but he decided Jensen wasn’t a great cook when it came to eggs even though he ate them because he knew the man had tried his best.

“God, you must have watched some really bad movies in your time,” Jensen laughed, one of the few times he really did laugh recently. “Of course I have a plan…it might not be the greatest, but then I wasn’t expecting the op to go this way so now I’m tweaking it.”

Jared lifted his eyes as he reached for Jensen’s mug of coffee. “So you’re winging it.”

“Basically…but I’m good at that.” Jensen turned from packing the laptop away to go back to the table to sit. “I know I’ve done nothing to earn your trust fully but if you trust nothing else, then just trust me when I say that I do have this under control.” He brushed back soft dark hair from worried eyes. “Okay?”

“You’re all I have left to trust in Jensen, so yeah…I trust you.” Jared wondered when the pain would come from his father’s death. All he really felt was numb but he wasn’t certain if it was just from everything going on or if the gap between them the last few years took away the sharp pain that he could still feel for his mother.

Jensen felt his chest tighten at that. “I will make this better for you,” he promised even though he wasn’t sure how the hell he’d actually do that. “He won’t hurt you.”

Jared had his doubts that it would be that simple to stop the man, but he merely nodded. He finished eating while Jensen repacked the SUV and was standing in the door when the man shut the back door after putting the final bag in. “Sure we can’t just hide out here and fool around?” he asked with a hopeful smile that he hoped didn’t show how nervous he suddenly was.

“If I thought we could, then I’d’ve already had you back on that bed.” Jensen saw the nerves but let them go. He understood that Jared had every reason to be scared. “We’ll be safe soon…and then maybe I’ll see about doing the thing I promised since you found those files.” He smiled at the way Jared’s eyes lit up, nodding to the SUV. “Get in while I make sure I got everything.”

Jensen made one last scan of the cabin to be sure he hadn’t left anything behind and then pulled the door shut with a sigh. If he ever could actually keep that promise he’d made to Jared, he’d like to bring him back here to do it, but he pushed those thoughts aside for a much later time.

As he slid behind the wheel, he noticed Jared’s hands were in his lap like he’d keep them when he was cuffed, and something twinged inside the older man. He reached over to take one hand in his and held it. “You’re not cuffed anymore, Jared. You can move your hands, play with the radio, touch stuff,” he told him, wondering how long it would be before he fully convinced Jared that he wasn’t a prisoner anymore. “I’d say touch me but then I’d probably get us into a wreck which would not be good.”

“Oh, I know that.” Jared looked over at him. “I don’t like to touch things that aren’t mine in case they break. Dad always said I was clumsy cause I’m so tall, so I was taught not to touch. I’m just supposed to sit still and be quiet.”

“Yeah, there’s a habit we need to break.” Jensen decided that maybe he wasn’t a fan of the late Judge Padalecki after all; not that he was thrilled with the man anyway given what his own stubbornness had cost his son. “Here’s the address and directions to where we’re heading. You can fight with the GPS thing because it just laughs at me if I try to do more than look for landmarks or food.”

“You’re hopeless,” Jared grinned but quickly input the directions. Soon the GPS was talking and Jensen was heard muttering ‘smart ass’ under his breath. “Mt. Baker is kind of isolated. Won’t that make it easy for whoever comes after us to pin us down or something equally bad?”

Jensen got them back on the road, guessing he could get them there before nightfall if he took a couple shortcuts he knew of. “Yeah, but that works both ways,” he replied to Jared’s concern. “It also allows me to have a better way to keep us safe. Plus I know the area around where we’re going better than the assholes after us.”

After that Jared relaxed more. His interest in the digital radio and other buttons on the dash distracted him as he played with different stations to see which ones made Jensen growl.

They ate lunch after stopping at a small diner and getting food to go. The closer they got to their destination, the fewer towns they came across and the more the trees spread out, giving them an amazing view as the clouds slowly parted and allowed the sun to come out.

“It’s beautiful up here,” Jared sighed; he longed to put the window down, to breathe in the crisp clean air, but he didn’t because he didn’t want to distract Jensen from the mission. He blinked when Jensen slowed down to pull off to the side of the road where an overlook was placed to allow visitors to take photos. “Jen?”

Jensen knew the danger they were in. He knew the odds of Pellegrino’s thugs catching up to them were huge, but he’d been watching the wistfulness on Jared’s face as he stared out the window. “We can take a few minutes to look if you want.” He shrugged, reaching into the glove box for a camera and chuckling at the excited laugh he heard as Jared opened the door.

“Momma was from Texas. She grew up on a cattle ranch outside of Dallas and loved the outdoors,” Jared said as he stepped close to the railing on the edge to just look. “She hated living in Beverly Hills, so she’d always take me on vacations to the mountains. I used to love the thick heavy forests with all the trees and animals.”

“Used to?” Jensen had caught the term as he stepped up to him. He snapped a couple pictures of the view of the sun shining on the open treeline and rising mountains.

“We were in the mountains above Taho when we were kidnapped that day.” Jared glanced over his shoulder to the thick span of trees and shuddered. “Momma told me to run, to hide in the woods but I…I was scared and got us caught cause she wouldn’t leave me. I…I haven’t really been back in heavy woods or mountains since.”

A knot formed in Jensen’s stomach at this detail because he knew where they were going was nothing but thick and dense woods. “I didn’t know that, Jay,” he murmured, concerned. “Can you handle this now?”

“Do I have a choice?” Jared smiled shakily, turning to see the worry on Jensen’s face and wondering when the last time was that he’d had someone really worry about him. He suddenly wondered if his own father or aunt had been worried when he first was kidnapped but quickly pushed those thoughts aside. “As long as I don’t have to be out in them much or get lost in them, I’ll be okay.”

Jensen hoped so. He stood by to give Jared the time to look, but he could practically feel the danger closing in. “Hey,” he called when Jared was turning; the sun had hit his face just as a small butterfly floated past to make him smile and he snapped a photo. “So I’ll remember you smiling when you’re back at school becoming someone important and having hopefully forgotten all of this.”

“I don’t want to forget you, Jen…I won’t forget you,” Jared told him softly, taking the camera to mess with the buttons before stepping closer to hold it up about where he thought it should be to take a photo. He showed Jensen the screen with photo of them. “This is what I’ll remember when you leave me.”

“Jay, I don’t want to leave you…but I also might not be able to stay.” Jensen was wondering when he’d lost the hard edge of the man he’d made himself and what it was about those damn soft eyes that tore his heart out when he suddenly turned to stare off down the empty road; his ears had picked up a sound that seemed to be coming closer. “Get in the car, Jay.” He gave a gentle nudge to Jared’s arm and felt when the kid picked up on his concern because no lip was given. “Shit, this could be bad.”

Jensen knew he could handle an attack in the woods, but he really didn’t like the idea of being attacked on the open road, especially when he had Jared with him and couldn’t be sure if any innocents might be around the area. “Put your seat belt on and just stay calm.” He moved a hand over to squeeze the one that was shakily trying to hook the belt and could feel it becoming cold. “It’s all going to be fine, babe.”

Jared believed Jensen. He trusted him to know what to do. It was the cruelty that he knew Pellegrino was capable of that made him scared but he nodded. He tried to stay calm when he felt the SUV speed up on some really narrow and curvy stretches of road, but he noticed that Jensen didn’t seem tense about the road. But he did get tense when the large black truck appeared in the mirror, bearing down on them. “Ummm Jen?”

“I really do hate this asshole,” Jensen muttered, one look telling him who would be driving since he knew that damn truck. “Jay, get my phone out of my pocket and push the first number on speed dial, then hit speaker.” He needed both hands to handle the SUV, pushing his speed up even though he knew the truck had more speed and would overtake them sooner than he liked.

“What?” a sharp deep voice growled. “I’ve heard from you more in two days than I have in five damn years, Jensen!”

“I’ve got a kill team on my ass. Where’s Kane?” Jensen looked up to swear. “Jay, hold on. They’re going to try to ram us.”

Jared nodded, paling at the first hard hit, but he tried to keep his attention on Jensen’s face and the yelling from the phone rather than how easy it would be to be pushed over the side of the mountain.

“Damn it!” the man on the phone snarled as he could hear the sounds of metal on metal and squealing tires. “Last time he checked in, he said he was at least a half a day out. I’m flying in with a team, but that’s still too long. Can you lose them?”

“JD, you know this piece of real estate ain’t exactly built for high speed chases or losing a skilled team of ex-special forces soldiers looking to kill people for the money Pellegrino has offered so no, losing them is not an option,” Jensen grunted, head snapping as he struggled not to lose control as the big truck clipped the bumper to try to force him into the guardrail. “Shit! Jared! Down!” he yelled a second before one of the back windows was shot out. “Fine! If I’m on my own for this then I’ll handle this my way!”

“Jensen! Don’t do anything stupid! Just try to put some distance between you and Welling! I’ll get the state cops up there if Kane can’t get to you sooner!”

Hitting the button to free Jared’s seatbelt, Jensen motioned to the floor as the back window of the trunk hatch blew when a bullet shattered it, and he snarled at the small whimper he heard as Jared tried to cover his head. “I am not letting them hurt Jared, Morgan! None of this should’ve happened and you damn well know it! Pellegrino should’ve been taken down two years ago! Better yet, he should’ve been taken down when he murdered Jared’s mother!”

Jensen hit the button to disconnect while pushing down hard on the accelerator to try and put some space between them and the truck, glancing down to offer a shaky smile. “We’ll be okay, Jay,” he promised the scared boy, gritting his teeth as another bullet bounced off the SUV. “Just keep your head down.”

He risked taking a hand off the wheel to grab his jacket and lay it over Jared, trying to shield him in case any more glass shattered. “Stay down. This could get loud and tricky.”

It had been a little over five years since Jensen had been up here, but he was glad at least that the roads hadn’t changed too much. He’d known them like the back of his hand once and was counting on that to work in his favor since Welling didn’t have his knowledge of the roads or the woods. All he had to do was get them clear for a short time.

Slowing down to wait until the black truck was close enough to hit them, Jensen pushed on the brake just enough to give him the momentum to take the hit that spun them around. “Jackass,” he muttered tightly while jerking the wheel to break contact where the truck was still trying to push them.

“Jen!” Jared cringed as something seemed to be bending by the way metal was screeching. He could smell rubber burning and heard Jensen hiss as something seemed to hit the dash. “Jensen!”

“Hang on!” Jensen yelled, swearing when the damn truck’s bumper clipped the rear end before he got clear of it and sent them spinning back around and straight toward the clump of heavy trees with the truck pressing into the bumper as if to drive them head on with the sole intent to kill them both. “Close your eyes!”

**TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Five**

When the SUV was close enough to the line of massive trees, Jensen jerked the wheel hard to the right and slammed down firmly on the gas pedal to avoid the collision when the big truck sped forward and hit the trees instead.

Not taking the time to stop to see about damage, Jensen flicked his eyes to the rearview mirror to see the smashed in front grill, the little plume of white smoke coming from the raised hood, and the way the tires were spinning in the mud. He knew he’d bought them a little time; time that he wasn’t going to waste.

“Jay, sit back up here.” He hated the fear he could see in the big hazel eyes as Jared quickly got back up. “I know you don’t like the woods, but if you had to, if I’m with you, could you go through them if we have to lose the SUV?” Jensen took a side access road that was mostly for the Rangers to use when checking for poachers, but it would work just as well for them since he was trying to get as close to his original destination without using the usual pathways or roads.

“Y…yeah.” Jared’s eyes were wide, stunned that they were still alive. “What…what happened?”

“I’m a better driver than Welling,” Jensen replied with a smirk, glad the SUV was 4-wheel drive or else they’d be stuck in the soft ground. “It won’t buy us much time, but I’m hoping it’s enough for us to get you closer to the cabin.”

“Get…get us to the cabin,” Jared corrected when it dawned on him that Jensen wasn’t saying anything. “Jensen? You…you are staying with me…aren’t you?” His breathing quickened at the thought of being left alone in the woods.

“Unless I have to draw them away from you until help gets here then yeah, I’ll be with you.” Jensen found an inner path that was a bit more stable and was easier to take than jarring Jared’s insides apart over the uneven ground. “They won’t be able to bring that monster truck in here because he doesn’t know where the paths are, but they’ll come on foot and I need to keep you safe.”

Jared frowned. “Won’t I be safer if you stay with me?” he countered.

“Not if I can lure them away.” Jensen moved a hand to reach over to catch the one that was moving toward him. “I know this is scary but trust me; it’s a lot better if I leave you alone in a secure cabin than if Welling can get to you.”

“What if you get eaten by a bear…or Sasquatch?” Jared asked shakily, seeing but ignoring the slight smile the curved Jensen’s lips.

“God, I love you that you’re more worried about me getting eaten by Bigfoot than getting shot by some hired killers.” Jensen looked over to grin. “I survived piranhas in the Amazon so I think I’ll be fine, Jay.”

“Momma said there were a lot of things out there that people thought were fake or made up cause they couldn’t see them.” Jared squeezed the hand he was holding tightly. “Promise me if you go out there that you’ll believe in them too. I know you think it’s silly or stupid; Dad does…did, but…”

Jensen had to slow down as the trees got thicker, and he knew there wasn’t much farther that he could take the SUV unless he risked getting back on the main road. “I don’t think it’s stilly or stupid,” he remarked, noticing how edgy Jared was getting as the trees got heavier. He was considering going back to the main road when suddenly the decision was taken out of his hand and he had to fight to keep control when something physically slammed into the rear of the SUV with enough force to nearly tip them over. “Son of a bitch!”

The unexpected blow had caused Jared’s head to hit the side window, and he was unable to bite back the cry of alarm when he felt the heavy vehicle. “What…what was that?”

“He’s got another team in the woods. I need to get us back to a road and try to make the access road to the cabin! Hang on!” Jensen hated this because while he was pretty sure he could handle one team, two kill teams might be a bit much for him to deal with alone. He scrubbed the idea of using the phone again because he already knew his back-up wasn’t close to help them, so he’d do what he had to by himself.

The smaller utility vehicle hit the rear side of the SUV again but Jensen was able to keep enough control to get back out on the road. He cursed as he saw several cars on this section of road and cringed at the damage that could be caused if these assholes cut loose with anything heavy.

“Jay, take my phone and keep it with you.” He sped up despite the winding curves in the road. “Try to reach into the back seat and grab your bag and put the laptop inside it. If we bail, it’s going to have to be fast, and we’re gonna have leave most of our stuff behind.”

“Can you lose them like this?” Jared looked back to see the crumpled front end of the black truck coming up through the heavier traffic and then something made him squint. “Jensen? Why’s that guy leaning out like that?”

“What?” Jensen’s eyes flicked up to the rearview mirror and then he was swearing violently. “Duck and stay down!” he yelled, bracing himself while tightening his hands on the wheel. “Asshole’s got a goddamn grenade launcher!”

Jared started to comment on the other cars between them when something exploded and he felt the SUV swerve. “They’re going to kill people!”

“Baby, they don’t care who they kill so long as they get us.” Jensen hated this. He hated the fear he saw in those big eyes; he hated the innocence that Jared was losing with everything he was seeing and learning. He also hated the lives that would be lost or injured before this was over, including possibly theirs. “Pellegrino doesn’t know what all I know about his operation and he hates to be disobeyed, so this isn’t all about you right now. Though I’m sure he gave Welling and his crew orders to take you out.”

“After they hurt me?” Jared’s voice shook as he asked this, fingers digging into the handle on the door as something else exploded closer this time, and he heard tires squealing and brakes screeching from further back on the road. “Jen…I…I don’t want people dyin’ cause of me. Let me out. They can…they can have me. That way you can get away and these people won’t be hurt. It’s not like it matters. No one back home will even care of I die or if I might already be…”

“I care,” Jensen broke in firmly, hearing a bullet hit the SUV and knowing he needed to get them through the traffic and into the trees. “I care for you, Jay. And I happen to care a lot if you live or die. Now hang on cause this might get bumpy.”

Jensen didn’t want to lead the killers right to the cabin, but he also didn’t want to trigger Jared’s fears more than they already would be by running through the woods. Especially when he knew Jared’s feet were going to be sore.

Reaching into the console between the seats to pull out a round object, Jensen rolled his window down, pulled the pin loose, and gave a mental count to three before tossing it back.

There was a loud pop and then the road filled with a mix of colored smoke thick enough to give him the chance to pull off to an access road that would be missed unless someone knew it was there, like Jensen did.

He drove as far as he could before stopping, grabbing the keys, and looking over to offer a reassuring smile. “Just stay close to me unless I tell you to run, Jared,” he told him, grabbing one duffel and seeing that Jared already had his bag with the laptop in it. “I know your feet hurt but we need to move fast, okay?”

“I’m good,” Jared replied hefting his pack over his shoulder. He’d chosen to leave a few of his books behind, but not his astronomy or computer ones, which lightened his pack and also made room for Jensen’s laptop and phone as well as a couple shirts and a box of something he’d grabbed in case of emergency. “Which way?”

“Straight for now and quickly.” Jensen knew the smoke grenade would only block the attackers for so long so he wanted them to be away from the SUV before the smoke cleared. He knew any tracker worth a damn would be able to follow them, but he was hoping to at least put some distance between them and Welling’s team.

He flipped a switch on the rear of the SUV, a special one that he’d installed himself, which would trigger if anyone touched the vehicle. He was hoping it would further serve to distract the men Pellegrino sent to kill them because nothing would bring out the Forest Rangers like an exploding SUV in their woods.

Jared had moved ahead and was waiting for him nervously. He noticed that Jensen had switched out the Beretta for a larger weapon that he could only guess fired more bullets, but didn’t want to ask and seem stupid. “Jen? Do you regret not killing me?”

“No! And even if I hadn’t already fallen for you, I still wouldn’t have killed you, Jared.” Jensen shifted the weapon to point away as he reached a hand to curve around the back of Jared’s neck, pulling him closer for a kiss. “No matter what happens now, I don’t have any regrets,” he whispered. “Now, go ahead of me but don’t go so far that I lose sight of you.”

Jensen could feel the closeness of the thick forest. He normally wasn’t claustrophobic, but in places like this, he often felt the tightness more. He could also feel the fear and worry pouring off of Jared but was proud of the way the kid was keeping it together.

The ex-Ranger could see the pain on Jared’s face with each step he took and the deeper into the woods they went, the paler he was getting, but so far they were making good time. Jensen had just told Jared to go to his left, planning to circle around rather than head directly for the cabin, when they both heard the explosion. “Dumbasses don’t ever remember to look for trip wires or hidden switches,” he smirked, catching up to where Jared was leaning against a tree with huge eyes. “I’d say if we’re lucky, half of the bastards just took themselves out…but Welling isn’t stupid enough to go close to a vehicle. He’d sacrifice the others first, so we need to hurry now.”

“He’d kill his own friends?” Jared couldn’t understand people it seemed. Maybe he was as naïve and stupid as some people used to say.

“Welling doesn’t have ‘friends’, Jay. He has units of space as he calls ‘em and he feels he can waste ‘em since Pellegrino can always hire more.” Jensen didn’t bother to hide the disgust for the other soldier. “If we can get a few more miles this way, we can start crossing back into the lower valley that’s beyond that ridge. The cabin’s about ten miles beyond that.”

“Whose cabin is it?” Jared asked, as he started moving again, shifting what he carried to his other shoulder while pushing his bangs out of his face when a noise caught his attention. “Yours or somebody else’s?”

“Officially, it’s a house for Rangers who live in the forest.” Jensen had also heard the noise but after a quick look didn’t reveal anything but a lone deer, he nudged the younger man forward. “Unofficially, it’s sort of a safehouse for…well…it’s complicated, but we’ll be safe there.”

“Are you like a spy or a mercenary or something?” Jared asked before he thought, and then his eyes went wide and he quickly tried to apologize until he saw what he was certain had to be Jensen really smile at him. “I…I didn’t mean to…”

“I’m neither, but what I am is also kind of complicated, so we’ll let it go for the moment. Let me just say you really have watched way too many movies, but I love you for that too.” Jensen chuckled, smoothing his fingers up and noticing the chill on Jared’s cheeks despite how flushed his face appeared. “Let’s move and then we’ll stop for some water.”

Jared nodded, starting to step onto the new path but immediately stopped. “We…we shouldn’t go this way,” he suddenly said, tense for some reason. “It’s…it’s not safe.”

“Jay, what’s coming from behind us isn’t safe,” Jensen argued, frowning as he noticed the same deer in the path and was about to insist they move when something else caught his eye and he swore under his breath. “Take the next path!” He gave a push that moved Jared just as something hit the tree where he’d been standing. “Jay, run! I’m right behind you!”

Jared hadn’t seen the laser sight of the rifle, but he’d felt the bark from the tree slash across his cheek when the bullet hit it. “Jensen?” He twisted, trying to look behind him, but quickly had to look forward to avoid running into a tree or tripping over something in the path.

“Go!” Jensen snapped, bringing the machine pistol up to fire a short burst when he saw where the red dot was coming from. He didn’t care at all for this turn of events because usually Welling didn’t use snipers. “Jared! Run, damn it! Now!”

A flash of another time nearly froze the younger man to the spot but when another bullet hit the dirt near his boot, he bolted deeper into the woods. The fear and nausea was welling up as he was suddenly five-years-old again and running from men with guns. Only his mother didn’t have Jensen’s skills or the weapon he had that Jared could hear firing in short bursts as the man followed his weaving trail. Suddenly everything fell silent and with a glance back, Jared suddenly realized he’d lost sight of both Jensen and the trail he was supposed to be on.

Jared opened his mouth to call out, but then shut it, afraid that if he called out, he’d alert the guys tracking them. Looking around to see if he could see or hear Jensen or any sounds, Jared’s heart rate started speeding up when it suddenly became plain that he was lost in the woods…alone. And just like that all his calm and determination to make Jensen proud by handling this fled, and he nearly doubled over while fighting to calm down and breathe.

His heart was pounding, his chest was hurting, and Jared was certain he could see little white dots in front of his eyes. The sound of the woods seemed to be coming back but it was all white noise to him…until a strong grasp caught his shoulder and he swung on instinct with all his strength.

His fist went through air as whoever touched him dodged the blow as if expecting it. The weight of the bags he still had over his shoulder threw him off balance and Jared felt himself teeter before he was caught and pulled behind a group of thick trees and bushes, a firm hand covering his mouth to stop his cry.

It was the voice that spoke close to his ear that caused him to stop trying to fight back and escape because no matter how scared Jared might be, he’d always recognize the deep husky tone that broke through his fear.

“Shhh. Jay, calm down,” Jensen murmured, shifting his grip to pull Jared with him until he could hold the scared young man against him, pressing his lips against cold skin. “It’s okay. We’re safe for a minute. Calm down and try to breathe for me. That’s it, babe. Just take a few breaths.” He moved his hand and shifted the bags that Jared still had over his shoulder so he could get a better hold of him, refusing to admit how much it had scared the crap out of him when he looked up after dealing with the two gunmen to realize he’d lost sight of Jared in the thick trees.

Jared knew he was shaking but he didn’t care. All he knew was that Jensen had found him and was with him. He knew they needed to run, but he felt so weak right then he wasn’t certain he could move. “You found me,” he whispered.

“I’ll always find you, Jay,” Jensen told him, relaxing a little now that he knew Jared was safe. He pulled a bottle of water out of the bag of weapons. “Take a few sips of this and then we need to move before they get too close again.”

Jensen wiped at the bloody scratch on Jared’s cheek while reloading his weapon. “If we cut across this path to the right, it’ll take us near where we need to be,” he told him softly, drinking the rest of the water when it was handed back to him. He smiled as Jared dug in his school bag to produce one of the few cereal bars he must have grabbed. “Thanks.”

“Momma used to buy me these to eat cause I hated breakfast.” Jared took a small bite before then eating it quickly. “I think I hated it cause she and Dad always fought…or Dad fought and she basically tried to smooth it over since I was there.”

“Your Mom sounds like she was really cool.” Jensen would keep to himself his opinion on Jared’s father for the moment.

“She was,” Jared whispered, fingers moving to the necklace he wore to see Jensen watching him. “This was hers. She said her great-grandmother gave it to her when she was little…she gave it me…when we were…were there to try to give me courage. I guess it doesn’t always work cause I’m scared now.”

Jensen let Jared rest for another moment, then helped him to his feet and waited until Jared picked up the bags he felt responsible for carrying before laying his hand over his heart. “You have courage in here, Jared. If you didn’t, you would’ve given in long before I stopped being a dick. You are very brave and your Mom would be proud of you.”

“Thanks, Jen,” Jared gave a quick, still slightly shy kiss before settling the bags over his shoulders again. “I’m ready.”

This time Jensen kept Jared close to him, and he also kept his eyes constantly moving to the trees while trying to hear if anything seemed off; he was relieved when they made it to the clearing that he knew led to the cabin without any further attacks.

“It’s pretty here.” Jared thought that under different circumstances he might like this spot since while it was surrounded by trees, it was clear overhead so if someone sat on the small covered porch the cabin seemed to have, they could see the stars when they were out. He wondered if they’d ever be safe again and have a chance to just sit and look at the stars. “Will we be here long?”

“Not sure.” Jensen felt the hairs on the back on his neck beginning to stand up. He couldn’t see anything wrong but yet his sense of danger could definitely feel it. He just nodded for Jared to go ahead of him down a path of grass that was blowing in the soft chilly wind.

He was about to follow when something caught his eye and Jensen frowned as he realized it was that same deer from earlier standing on the other side of the clearing, near the cabin. Gold-flecked eyes looked straight at him before shifting to Jared and then to an unusually still section of grass that didn’t seem to be moving like the rest…a section of grass that was right in front of the younger man.

It was then that the former Special Forces operative knew where the danger was and how stupid he’d been to not see the risk before. “Jared! Jay, stop where you are!” he shouted, swearing and starting to bolt forward when white hot pain shot through his leg. Jensen felt himself falling at the same time he heard a startled shout and saw Jared disappear from view when he fell through what was so plainly a goddamn trap. “Jared!”

Jensen heard the frightened voice shouting for him getting more agitated and realized something else was going on. Something else must’ve been in that hole in the ground covered by foliage, but before he could try to ignore the bleeding hole in his leg to get to the boy, a gun was placed in his face while a foot kicked his weapon out of reach.

“Getting sloppy there, old man.” A sneering voice was heard from behind the assault rifle that dug into Jensen’s forehead. “I figured you would’ve spotted the old camouflaged hole in the ground a mile away…but then maybe you had other things on your mind…like getting a piece of that ass once you had him in the cabin no one was supposed to know about?”

Tom Welling’s face always made Jensen wanted to bloody it. Now was no exception. Except right then he’d zeroed his furious gaze on two other men he could see near the hole. “So, you two assholes decided to go work for the devil and screwed me over,” he growled, biting his cheek when the rifle butt slammed into it. “Gee, kinda reminds me of Belize all over again.”

“What can I say? Pellegrino pays more than the government.” Michael Rosenbaum shrugged, giving a look into the hole. Jared had fallen silent with bothered Jensen even more than the agitated shouting had. “Kid’s gotten himself pretty tied up in that net. You want us to pull him out or leave him in there?” he asked, handing off the sniper rifle that he’d used to shoot Jensen to the pale blond haired man next to him. “It also looks like he either hit his nose or cracked his skull open. I’m seeing a lotta blood.”

Jensen was about to risk making a move when he heard this. “Goddamn it, Welling! Leave the kid alone!” he snapped, grunting when a heavy boot kicked his ribs multiple times before rough hands jerked his arms behind his back to tie them together tightly before pulling him to his knees. This position put more pressure on his bleeding leg, and it also allowed them to force him to watch as the 6’ tall Rosenbaum reached into the hole to drag Jared out. Jared wasn’t making any noise, but Jensen could see that he was tangled in some sort of heavy net, still fighting to get loose. That explained why Jared’s shouts had become increasingly panicked before he’d fallen silent. “Leave him…ugh!”

“Shut the fuck up!” Tom Welling was confident now that he had Jensen wounded and restrained, back-handing the former Ranger and smirking at the look of hate he was shot. “I told the boss that you couldn’t cut it with this kind of work. I told him that you were too damn gutless to kill and that it’s no wonder you got kicked outta the army.”

“I’ve killed plenty, asshole,” Jensen gritted, trying to see past the blood running in his eyes from another blow to his temple. “Unlike you and these dicks, I never got off on killing innocent people or hostages. I killed when I had to…like I will now if I get a gun in my hand…I’ll blow your goddamn ugly face apart if you or any of them touch Jared.”

“Did you screw the op because your morality got in the way or because you fell for the kid here?” The blond asked, eyes moving between Jensen and the kid who was still trapped in the net on the hard ground. “What happened to the ice cold asshole you were supposed to be, Captain?”

“What happened to you shutting your mouth, Murray?” Jensen shot back, gritting his teeth when a gun jammed into his neck while Welling walked slowly closer to where Jared was still fighting to get loose. “Jay, stop struggling!” he tried to say, realizing what kind of net it was; he knew that the more the boy fought, the tighter the net would become. “Welling! Don’t you fucking touch him or…argh!”

“Oh, I plan to do a lot more than touch this beautiful boy before I slit his throat, Ackles,” Welling sneered after the guy with the gun on Jensen kicked his injured leg. “I’d let you watch, but you’ve been a pain in my ass for too long. Hmmm, I think I’ll kill you first so he can watch you bleed out…or maybe it’ll be more fun if he can’t see what I do to you…leave him guessing.”

Jared thought he might have passed out for a second. He recalled hearing Jensen shout for him to stop, but it was too late. He felt himself fall into some sort of hole. Jared knew he’d landed hard, but he’d also immediately known he was trapped in some form of net. He had tried to fight his way out of it only to feel become tighter and tighter around him.

He’d tried shouting for Jensen, but he heard the pain when Jensen called back to him so he knew something bad had happened. He’d forced himself to be quiet, trying to figure out exactly what was going on. He didn’t have to wait long. Hard hands reached down to drag him out of the hole and throw him on the ground, allowing Jared to see the armed men in the clearing as well as Jensen…he knew then that this was bad.

Jensen was bleeding from his head and his leg; his arms were tied behind him, and a short skinny guy was jabbing a gun in his neck. Two others were close to him, but it was the other guy, the black haired guy stalking toward him, that had Jared trying to fight back.

“Pellegrino wants you dead, pretty boy.” Welling reached down to grab a handful of the net that was wound tightly around the struggling boy, jerking him up a little so he could grab a handful of long hair. He yanked it with enough force to elicit a cry of pain from the nerd and a snarl from the backstabber. “But he also wants you to scream and beg, so he said I could play with you…like he played with your slut of a Mom…but first, I’ve got a score to settle with your boyfriend here, so you’ll have to wait a while.” He pulled a cloth out of his jacket and tied it tightly around Jared’s eyes.

The second the cloth blinded him, Jared’s forced calm vanished and he began to panic and try to fight. He could hear Jensen yelling at the men to not blindfold him and to let him go. His chest began to burn from the lack of air getting in his lungs, but he managed to gasp at a sudden sharp flash of pain across his cheek.

“Welling!” Jensen had seen the knife come out and saw the man slash it down across Jared’s face, under the blindfold. “Leave him alone! You’re such a goddamn gutless coward that you’ll hurt a damn kid who can’t fight back! I thought you had something to settle with me!” he yelled, fury in his voice but also worry as he could see how pale Jared was as he was shoved back into Rosenbaum’s waiting grasp. “I will rip your heart out, Mike.”

Rosenbaum’s arm just slipped up to wrap tightly around Jared’s neck. His calm eyes stayed on Jensen’s when he moved his other hand suggestively up Jared’s chest. “I think you’d better worry about yourself, Captain.”

“Murray, you and Dawson drag Ackles into the woods,” Welling ordered, flicking his gaze over to where Jared was still weakly struggling; the panic was obviously making it hard for him to breathe. “You’re a big guy, Rosenbaum. You should be able to handle the geek. Take him inside and make him…presentable for when I get back…then we can have some fun before I bleed his ass. This won’t take long.”

Something inside Jared came back to life as he heard this. He had no doubts about what this guy or the others would do to him before killing him, but he didn’t know what they were going to do to Jensen. His fear for himself was huge but despite it all, he didn’t want anyone else hurt because him.

“Jensen!” he tried to shout, but the arm tightened over his throat, choking the words off. He thought he heard something hissed in his ear, but he was too far into his own panic to notice or care about the words of a killer; a killer that he somehow knew had been the one who shot Jensen. “Jen…”

“Remember…what I told you, Jared!” Jensen grunted as he was yanked to his feet. “Remember where your courage is! And what…what I promised…ugh!” A fist to his stomach took his breath as the asshole with the gun jerked him toward the woods.

“That’s sweet,” Welling sneered, pausing to yank a handful of long hair back and grinning at the tears he saw running from under the blindfold. “Looks like all that bravado and attitude he’s showed was as fake as Ackles himself.” He grabbed Jared’s jaw, digging his fingers in until he heard a whimper. “Asshole’s been fucking with me since our service days. He always tried to make out like he was all big and cold, but yet he still won’t pull the trigger on someone like you. He made an enemy of the wrong guy cause the Boss hates being refused. Maybe I’ll cut his heart out so you can see it while I play.”

The lead gunman looked up into the hard face of the bald man holding their prey. “Get him ready…bruise him up some…fuck him for all I care.” He tossed a look back over his shoulder and smirked. “As much as I want Ackles to suffer, I want this faggot more so just…” He paused at the sound of a sudden howl in the distance. “What the fuck was that?”

Michael Rosenbaum’s lips thinned into a slow smile. He tightened his grip on the straining boy and began to pull him back toward the cabin. “Sounds like a wolf to me.” He glanced at the thick trees. “Up here there are all kinds of wildlife, but that’s more than likely an alpha wolf protecting his pack. So long as you avoid him, you should be fine.”

“I ain’t scared of no damn pack of wolves,” Welling snapped with just enough bravado to tell the other man just how fake that was. “Oh, and the boss said to tell you and Murray that you’ll get a bonus for deciding to play on the right side. He rewards those who help him.”

“Yeah, I just bet he does,” Mike muttered, kicking the cabin door shut behind him. He glanced around the well-kept cabin and shoved the helpless boy toward the couch. “Just sit there for a few minutes while I decide what to do with you.”

“No!” Jared still couldn’t catch his breath; he still couldn’t manage to get the net to loosen, but he continued to struggle as much as he could. He needed to get away if for no other reason than to at least try to find Jensen and help him. “You better just kill me now ‘cause I’m…I’m gonna find a way to help Jensen!” he shouted, trying to pull away when he felt a hand grab the back of his neck. The strong hand held him in place and suddenly the blindfold was ripped off so he could see the hard, stern face of his captor. “You shot him!”

Mike stared at the boy in surprise. He really hadn’t been expecting this. He’d been expecting the kid to shut down or maybe beg to be let go. He’d seen and felt his reaction to the blindfold, so he knew he was scared to death. He sure as hell hadn’t been expecting him to continue thrashing in the net, nearly falling off the couch before Mike grabbed him again.

“Settle down, damn it!” he hollered at the kid, not really surprised when that didn’t work. “Damn it, kid! If you were this unruly for Ackles I’m surprised he didn’t break any bones on you!” He pulled out his knife and moved it close to the boy’s throat. Finally, the kid became still and Mike looked into wide, scared eyes. “That’s right, kid. Settle your ass down so we can have a little talk.” He quickly used the knife to slice through the top of the net, then returned the blade to Jared’s neck. “I want to let you loose, but you need to promise you’re going to listen to…son of a bitch!” the hired gun shouted in unexpected pain when he’d gone to shove Jared back only to feel him sink his teeth into his arm. “Kid! Fuck!”

Mike tried to make a grab for him, but Jared got his arms free enough to shove him away and before he knew it, the damn pain in the ass kid was loose and out the door, running blindly into the woods. “Oh this sucks,” he muttered, clamping a hand on his bleeding arm while wincing when his pocket vibrated. “Shit, he’s gonna kill me.”

“You know, you probably could’ve made it far if you weren’t such a wuss, Ackles,” Tom Welling was saying as he punched the restrained former soldier in the belly repeatedly. “You had Pellegrino fooled. He thought you were a stone-faced hardass, but I knew different. I knew you were no good. I didn’t expect you to be stupid enough to be some government plant or something, but that won’t matter now either.” He punched again before kicking the bleeding leg out from under the other man to watch him fall hard to the ground. “You’ll be dead, the brat will die after I have some fun, and all of Mr. P.’s troubles will vanish.”

Jensen spat blood, trying to see out of one swollen eye, when the howl of a wolf echoed through the trees. It seemed closer this time and the bragging Tom pulled back to look around warily. “You…you touch Jared and you better make sure you kill me, Welling,” he spat, voice raw from trying to breathe through the pain of his leg and the beating. “I will make you hurt if he gets hurt from this.”

“Jackass…he’s already as good as dead,” Welling sneered, pulling his gun out to aim it. “Maybe I should start shooting you and see how long you last?”

“Or maybe you could talk me to death?” Jensen gritted, moving his eyes over to gaze at the blond man who was leaning against a tree. “This…your plan?”

“Uhh, not exactly, no.” Chad Michael Murray shrugged, eyes moving between Jensen and Welling while ignoring the other guy in the woods as he casually flicked the tip of the knife in his hand with his thumb. “Actually from the moment Rosey shot you to right about now…it’s been all improve,” he admitted, adding. “The main thing was getting sicko here away from the kid, and the best way to do that was to focus him on you since we figured he hates you anyway.”

“Huh. Gee, thanks Chad,” Jensen muttered, moving his wrists in the ropes binding them. “With friends like you and Mike a guy doesn’t need enemies.”

“What the fuck?” Welling demanded, head swiveling back and forth when he shook it in disgust. “It don’t matter. You’re dead, Ackles! I’ll shoot you in the belly and you can bleed out while thinking about what I’m doing to your new little toy back there.” He aimed the pistol at Jensen and smiled brightly. “Mr. Pellegrino said to tell you that you shouldn’t make threats that you can’t keep.”

Jensen thought of Jared as he watched a steady finger inch toward the trigger and inwardly stilled himself for the agony to come.

**TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Six**

Jensen Ackles watched the finger inch toward the trigger. He didn’t have any fear for himself since he’d faced the barrel of a gun plenty of times in his life, but he did worry about the boy he’d sworn to protect…no, the young man he’d come to realize he’d fallen in love with.

Knowing that Welling was waiting to see fear, he sneered instead. “I don’t make threats, asshole. I make promises.” He flicked his eyes slightly to the side before looking back to let his lips curve. “I also don’t make ones that I don’t know I can keep.”

“You won’t be keeping this one, jackass,” Welling laughed, finger moving to the trigger when a hand suddenly latched onto his wrist, forcing him to point the gun upward. “What the fuck Murray?”

Chad Michael Murray had let this play out for as long as he thought he safely could. He ignored the other slack-jawed moron for the moment since he knew it was just a matter of a bullet to deal with him; his main concern was Welling and where he had that gun aimed.

“Y’know how Mike said that Pellegrino paid better than the government?” he began casually, still moving his knife easily in his hand while stepping forward so the arrogant asshole could see his usually laid back, easy going face take on a hardness that was pure disgust. “That might be true…but you know what the government has that your buddy Pellegrino doesn’t?” he asked, grinning as the soft sound of a silenced bullet went through the woods; the bullet grazed Welling’s face to draw a line of blood before slamming into the chest of the other gunman. “A really mean and pissed off former Marine. Hey, Kane. Nice shot.”

“Get the goddamn gun out of Welling’s hand before I forget how much I hate you right now, Murray,” a deep gravelly gruff voice with an accent that clearly told of its owner’s Oklahoma roots snapped as a body came crashing through the woods. “Shooting Ackles was a really bright plan. I’m sure Morgan will love it when you explain that one to him.”

“Hey, Rosey’s a crack shot and just shot him in the calf rather than the knee or someplace else,” Chad argued, a sharp fist cracking into Welling’s stunned face as he jerked the pistol out of his grasp. “We needed to make it look like we really had switched sides. It’s not like Jen ain’t been shot before.”

“An arm or shoulder shot would have been better then,” Christian Kane growled, catching the knife that was tossed to him even as he was going to one knee beside a scowling Jensen. “You hit me when I cut you loose, and I’ll hurt you worse than you already are,” he warned. “How bad?”

Jensen snorted, ignoring a now furious Tom Welling who was screaming about backstabbing traitors and making them all pay for making a fool of him. “I’ve been shot, I’m bleeding, and my head hurts like hell. Now cut me the goddamn hell loose so I can get back to Jared and kill Rosenbaum if he did anything to hurt him.”

“Mike knew the plan…he was gonna keep Jared safely in the cabin after we got Welling and the other yo-yo away, so don’t worry about the kid,” Chad spoke up while trying to cuff the other man with plastic riot cuffs before giving a sigh and slamming his fist into his face again. “Stay still before I shoot you for being an asshole!”

“Oh, so you did have a plan besides shooting me?” Jensen felt his wrists come free and started to push to his feet only to be shoved up against a tree while his leg was looked at to gauge the bleeding. “Just wrap something around it until I get back to the cabin. Welling practically kicked my damn ribs in which hurts a helluva lot more than the in and out bullet wound.”

“That actually _was_ the plan,” Chad coughed, uneasy since he knew the temper of his teammates. “When we got the word that Jensen blew his cover and the op, Mike knew we needed to make sure we were included on Welling’s kill team…so he did some acting, gave up some little stuff, and then shot Jensen to make it look real.” He winced as he heard a growl and knew he would end up bleeding soon. “Hey, Welling wanted the hole to be a lot deeper with some sticks pointing up, so when you or the kid fell into it you’d be shish-kabobed, but I talked him out of that…so really you should be thanking us.”

Kane ran a hand through his shoulder length black hair and tossed the defensive man a sour look. “I don’t think thanking you is probably what Jensen has in mind right now, jerk,” he muttered, tying a piece of cloth he tore off the dead guy’s shirt tightly around Jensen’s leg to slow the bleeding. “JD’s on his way in. We’re going to have to move on Pellegrino now before he flies the coop…especially since he’s lost touch with these jackasses.”

“You don’t have…ugh…anything on him that’ll stick!” Welling grunted as he was pulled to his feet and shoved toward two plain clothed guys that had just stepped into the woods with weapons drawn but pointed up. “You can’t prove he killed anyone or kidnapped anyone! No one will testify against him! And you assholes are just as guilty of stuff as he would be!”

“Uh…he kinda has a point there,” Chad frowned, catching Jensen’s other arm when his leg nearly buckled. “The boys at the top authorized the op, but it was supposed to be limited to information gathering; we weren’t authorized to participate in any action. No names ever got out, but this whole mess wasn’t in the mission specs.” He leaned back to catch Kane’s eyes grimly and could see that the 5’10” ex-Marine understood the problems they were facing. “Sure, we can probably place the suspicion of blame for Padalecki’s murder on Pellegrino but proving it…that’ll be hard. Welling’s team was on hand but you know this jerkoff won’t testify against the mighty Mark Pellegrino. Hell, he’d turn on us before him.”

“He paid for the kidnapping of a judge’s son. He ordered Jared killed. Jeez, I sent JD a bunch other crap I found when I was undercover and that Jared found this morning,” Jensen shot back, bitterness building as he realized that despite everything that happened, the bastard still might walk free…and if that happened, Jared would never be safe. “He murdered Jared’s mother years ago and…”

Kane had worked with Jensen for a lot of years. He’d seen him at his hardest and had seen him so cold he’d often worried that working undercover for Pellegrino would actually turn him like it had so many others. He knew when he heard the bitter emotion in that deep voice now that something _had_ happened to change the man, perhaps in an even worse way.

The world they operated in required a hard heart, nerves of steel, and the ability to move on without looking back. From the moment Jensen had been recruited from the Rangers to work in the secret agency, those things had never been a problem…now Kane was no longer certain that was the case.

“Pinning the murder of more recent victims is hard enough; pinning the 15-year-old murder of a woman would nearly be impossible, dude,” he said, then sighed when Jensen whirled to grab his shirt in a clenched fist. “Jensen, you’re not thinking like a soldier now. You’re thinking like…”

“Like a what, Chris?” Jensen growled, ignoring the pain in his leg and body and shaking off Chad’s hand to give Chris a hard shove. “Like a guy who fucked up? Like a guy who was undercover so long that I forgot what I was supposed to be fighting for? Like a guy who nearly got an innocent kid killed? Like a…”

“Like someone who fell in love with his target,” Kane finished and took the fist that snapped his head back, tasting blood but ignoring it as he blocked the next blow. “You’re not thinking clearly…you know what is possible and what isn’t. You’re thinking with your heart and you goddamn it, Jensen…” He ducked the wild fist but took an elbow to his ribs. “Ackles! I’m just telling you what you know JD will! We can pin some stuff on Pellegrino, but not the big stuff yet! Not without a witness willing to testify; someone willing to go to jail for any of his own crimes…and I don’t think anyone would be willing to do that!”

“I’ll do it!” Jensen snapped and realized even as he said it, even as multiple shocked eyes were landing on him, that this would be the only way to keep both of his promises, to keep Jared safe and to take Pellegrino down for good. “I’ll…be the one to testify. I’ll take the fall for everything I did for him, including kidnapping Jared. I’ll do whatever I need to if it means putting that asshole away so he can never hurt that kid again. I’ll do it.”

Chad nearly tripped over his own feet in his haste to turn around while Chris Kane’s mouth was moving with no words coming out. “Dude! Think about how insane that sounds! If you do this they’ll stick you in a cell. A real cell, Jensen! You’d be dead within a goddamn week locked behind bars!” the blond man argued. “If Pellegrino doesn’t have someone whack you, the other prisoners are gonna want you for their girlfriend! Dude, think this over!”

“I made two promises, Chad. I won’t break either.” Jensen knew it was crazy and that it was probably also a death sentence but even as he moved away to limp painfully into the clearing, he knew it wasn’t going to be enough. He’d still have to find some other way to completely ensure Jared’s safety because if he was in a cell, the odds of Pellegrino sending someone else after Jared were still high. “I will see that bastard burn and I will protect Jared. Now keep your mouth shut until I…what the fuck?”

“Huh. JD looks pissed,” Kane noticed; he could tell just by the way the gruff older man was yelling and throwing his arms around in the face of a grim Mike Rosenbaum that something was wrong…something that probably wouldn’t make Jensen any happier. “You sure Mike knew not to touch the kid?”

“What? Yeah, of course!” Chad blinked, swallowing when Jensen shot him a look that promised pain if anything had happened to the big-eyed boy who had been the start of this op blowing up in their faces. “Shit! Mike, what the hell’d you do?” he muttered, breaking into a run when not even a bullet hole in the leg was keeping Jensen from going for the bald agent’s throat.

Unaware of the problems coming his way, JD Morgan was in the midst of wondering how in the hell a simple operation, a job he’d been watching come together for five years, could have gone to hell so fast.

The man had cut his teeth in the cloak and dagger world so when offered the chance to head the small group that took on the crooks, criminals, terrorists and more that others didn’t want to handle or couldn’t spend the time to deal with, he’d gladly taken the president up on the offer.

In more than 20 years, he’d never had a major problem. Oh, he had agents turn on him. He’d had them be bought off, but those problems were to be expected in this line of work. He’d seen men like Mark Pellegrino buy off good men and turn them bad. But in all his years as a covert operative and the military, Jeffrey Dean Morgan had never been as exasperated as he was right then.

He’d been growling since he got the first call from Jensen about blowing his cover. After seven damn years of setting it up and then working inside the Pellegrino group, the damn fool had blown his cover and moved the timetable on the operation up by at least six months…all over some fool kid.

The death of Judge Padalecki would have been enough of a problem since the man had a lot of friends in the government who wanted his death resolved quickly, but they also didn’t want to cause a scene if they couldn’t pin the murder or the kidnapping on Pellegrino directly as the slick suited shark had his own fair share of moles and friends in high powered circles.

Realizing that Jensen could have easily gotten the proof they needed if he’d just held his damn temper, the man had been scrambling to come up with a suitable Plan B when he learned of the kill team that had been dispatched…a kill team that happened to include two of his remaining agents, one of whom he’d been screaming at since his helicopter landed.

“How in the hell did you lose him, Rosenbaum?” he was demanding, fingers raking through his thick dark hair that he knew would have more silver in it after this mess. “He’s a 21 year old college junior who should’ve been terrified of you! You’re supposed to be terrifying! You’re supposed to be threatening! You are not supposed to let him _bite_ you and get away from you. With my luck, he’s probably been eaten by a goddamn bear or mountain lion by now!”

Mike Rosenbaum winced as his boss smacked the back of his head while a smirking medic cleaned his arm. “I didn’t lose him, JD!” he argued, wincing at the burning antiseptic that hit the bite mark on his arm. “That damn kid is a nuisance. He’s stubborn, hardheaded and a threat to himself and to…oh shit. I guess I know where he picked up the stubbornness from.” He gave a quick look towards the door to see if he could make a run for it because he knew the hot green eyes that had pinned him were pissed…and that was before Jensen learned of the latest little problem. “I hope Chad explained the reason I shot you?”

“Huh?” JD blinked, turning and then frowning more as he took in Jensen’s limp and the blood stained leg of his jeans as well as the bruises and blood on his face. “What the fuck do you mean the reason you shot him? You shot your own man?” he demanded in a near roar of outrage.

“I needed to make Welling think Chad and I were on his side so I…shot Jensen,” Mike muttered, dodging the long arm that reached to grab him. “Hey, I only shot you in the leg!”

“I’ll break your face for shooting me and letting your buddy kick my ribs in later!” Jensen snarled; his thoughts were locked on one thing right then. “Right now, I’m going to go calm Jay down after you helped scare the crap outta him, and you damn well better have taken that blindfold off of him or I’ll rip your lungs out!”

“Calm him down?” Mike snorted, motioning to the arm with a very impressive set of teeth marks showing. “I’ll probably get rabies! He bit me, Jensen!”

That stopped Jensen for a half a second; he looked at the imprint of teeth in the man’s arm and offered a slow smirk. “He was scared. He nearly broke my nose more than once. Jared can fight back if pushed, and he’s been pushed way too far this week. Suck it up and just hope I’m busy for the next hour or so. Now where is he?”

The ex-Ranger expected to be told that Jared had locked himself in a closet or the bedroom or something like that to avoid Mike. He was not expecting to hear what he actually did.

“From what I was told, the kid bolted into the woods after he bit Rosenbaum and had some kind of scuffle with him,” JD remarked, moving to keep himself between Jensen and the man he knew his agent would be lunging for if Kane hadn’t picked that time to step up and grab a hold of Jensen’s arm. “I have men out scouring the woods for him, Jensen. He won’t go far…Mike seems think he’s looking for you.”

“He…you let him run off into the woods?” Jensen figured he was heading for a stroke just by the way his head was throbbing right then. He could hear Jared’s shaky voice speaking of his fear of the woods and he could still see how scared he’d been earlier by the threats being hurled by Welling. “Did you tell him you weren’t going to hurt him? Did you tell him that Chad wouldn’t actually let me die…I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt there, Murray…or that our backup was close? Did you tell him you wouldn’t let anyone hurt or touch him? Did you tell Jared anything, Mike?” He was getting louder with each question and was starting to pull free from Kane’s grasp to go search himself when his leg picked that time to buckle and remind him that it was actually still bleeding.

“I took the blindfold off of him…I tried to tell him to calm down…I even started to cut him out of the net. Then he totally freaked out on me and managed to get completely loose.” Mike sighed, wincing when his superior again slapped him in the back of his head. “I thought I’d wait for him to calm down and then try to reason with him…there’s no reasoning with that kid!”

“His name is Jared and he’s been pretty convinced all week no matter what I say that he’s going to die one way or another, you asshole!” Jensen gritted, furious and scared as he looked toward the woods. “He’s terrified of being tied up and blindfolded so you hit two of his triggers without even trying. I…I need to go find him. I need to make him understand that he’s safe or…”

“He’ll never be safe, Ackles!” Welling shouted from where two men were standing guard over him. “You can’t put Pellegrino away…even if you do, he’s got plenty of contacts, and he wants that kid dead!” He laughed while shooting a suggestive sneer at Jensen. “Or maybe he won’t kill him. Maybe he’ll take a good look at him and decide he can sell that piece of ass overseas for…”

“Jensen!” JD snapped, putting a sharp crack in his voice when Jensen went to lunge for the other man’s throat as Chad finally just punched Welling hard enough to knock him out cold. “What in the hell has gotten into you, boy?” he demanded, seeing the rage in green eyes like he’d never seen before and he’d watched Jensen in several ops before this one.

Slumping back to the porch, Jensen reluctantly allowed the hovering medic to rip his jeans enough to check the wound in his lower leg. “This op has been screwed for a while and you know it, JD. You know that no matter how much proof we get, no matter how much rope we let out to allow the bastard to hang himself, someone either local or in DC will find a way to make our evidence or a witness vanish. And he would end up skating just like he has every other goddamn time.” He kept shifting his gaze from his superior’s gruff bearded face to the woods. “I swore to Jay that I’d bring Pellegrino down…and I will. You’ll just have to promise me to have his back, to keep him safe until that happens.”

“Jensen, putting him away for good won’t be…” JD began, and then he caught the grim looks on Chris and Chad’s faces as well as the sudden flash of sad determination on Jensen’s. He suddenly began to get a bad feeling and knew he wasn’t going to like whatever his agent was planning. “What are you planning, Jensen?”

“I’m planning to keep at least one promise I’ve made to Jared…and if that means screwing up what’s left of my life or career, so be it. I’m going to become the man I’ve pretended to be for the past six or so years…make up for at least some of the pain I’ve caused him and others…but I want your word that he’ll be safe.” Jensen winced as the medic finished wrapping his leg. It still ached and he felt a bit woozy, but he tried to push up so he could go hunt for Jared himself.

JD started to argue that this was the dumbest idea he’d ever heard, but then stopped as he thought it through. “If we do it this way, it would mean that you’d basically be in deep cover for the rest of your life…and I can’t promise what kind of deal we could get you…I’m also not sure I could provide protection inside a prison,” he warned, ignoring the growls of shocked outraged from the other men. “If you turn like this, you know Pellegrino will do everything in his power to have someone on the inside take you out before you testify…and even after if you actually manage to get him put away. You will be a target for the duration of whatever sentence you get and you know that means…”

“The Agency will disavow all knowledge of my existence, and I’ll basically be considered a crook turned snitch, yeah…I got it, JD.” Jensen really did and he wondered why he wasn’t more nervous about that. He was still more worried about Jared’s safety. “Can you guarantee his safety?”

JD sighed. “Jensen, if everything you’ve said is true…if what I’ve seen in those files is true…then Pellegrino has an intense hatred for that family. Jared’s the only one left and I don’t even think the threat of going to prison will stop him from hunting him down to kill him or…doing what Welling there alluded to.” The older man saw the clenching fingers as he added. “He’s never going to really be safe as long as he’s alive. Not even if we put him under 24 hour guard because Pellegrino will find a way to buy someone off. There’s only one sure way to ensure he can live safely…and I think you know it.”

Jensen did know it. He knew it, and he hated it. Right then though all he wanted was to have Jared out of those damn woods before he could be hurt…or hurt worse than how he would be soon.

When Jared broke free of the bald killer and ran blindly into the thick woods, his only thought had been that he had to find and help Jensen. It wasn’t until he tripped and fell that he began to realize that his decision had possibly been a huge mistake.

His feet still were hurting from the damage done to them earlier; his head and chest were now aching from his borderline panic attack and then from running. As he sat on the forest floor and tried to get his lungs to stop burning, he looked around and was instantly engulfed by flashes of memories, of terror he hadn’t ever fully been able to shake.

Being alone, lost and hunted in dark woods, with huge trees all around and various sounds coming from nearly every direction soon had him shaking and whimpering. Jared hated all of this. He hated that his father’s obsession with Pellegrino had caused so much pain. He hated that his own cowardice would cost both him and Jensen their lives. Above all, he hated Mark Pellegrino for it all.

“Jen…” he whispered on a broken sob, wanting to find his friend…not even wondering when he started to think of Jensen as a friend much less someone he wanted to be so much more. A sudden sound made him jump, and he tried to scramble to his feet only to fall as his knee twisted. “Damn! Damn! Damn!” He looked up in shock, seeing the same deer from earlier in the day standing just a few feet from him.

Wild animals weren’t a huge interest for him, but his Mom and Grandfather had loved nature and had taught him enough to know this was a doe and not a buck. He could tell she was an adult, but he also knew the deer shouldn’t be that calm with so many humans in the area. He turned his head just as the deer did and as he looked, as gentle eyes watched him, he suddenly started to sob. “I’m sorry.”

The deer stayed still as if watching the teary-eyed boy before moving closer to gently nudge his lowered head with a soft warm nose and blow warm breath over his floppy dark hair…like gentle fingers would touch it and slowly some of the fear and guilt left him even though Jared knew it was a silly thought.

He swallowed thickly and opened his eyes to see that he was alone again; the deer was gone as if it had never been there. Just as he was preparing to pull to his feet, he heard the snap of a branch and found the muzzle of a rifle pointed in his face.

“Hey, this the kid the boss said took a bite out of Rosenbaum?” the guy asked someone over his shoulder. “He don’t look like a cannibal.”

“He’s from Beverly Hills, so who can tell?” Another guy spoke as he came up to motion with his gun. “C’mon junior, on your feet,” he ordered sternly, moving the pistol in warning. “Try to run or bite anyone and I’ll put a bullet through your damn knee. Now let’s go. The boss is bitching.”

Jared wanted to fight; he wanted to run; he wanted Jensen. Suddenly a wave of exhaustion washed over him and he was just too tired to fight anymore. He might as well face his fate and let the killers take his life. His only wish was that he could see Jensen one more time to apologize for costing him his life too.

“I’m so sorry,” he was whispering to himself as he was led back to the cabin, strong hands gripping his arms tightly as he stumbled along between the gunmen. “So, so sorry, Jensen.”

“Kid, you can tell Ackles that yourself in a minute,” one of the guy remarked and then snorted. “Unless Kane knocked him out for going for Mike’s throat for shooting him.”

Jared blinked for several long moments as those words slowly sank in. He was frowning, replaying them silently in his head, as he was dragged out of the woods to see a small helicopter sitting in the clearing as well as several large vehicles and a dozen or more people.

“Hey! He belong to someone here? I don’t think he’s a cannibal despite what Mike said,” the guy with the rifle called loudly.

Jared was tensing again. He was about to try to pull free when his head jerked up at a voice that seemed to be coming from a million miles away.

“Jay!”

Tired, burning, glassy eyes snapped up and forward and Jared gasped as he locked eyes with sharp, worried, green ones. Then he was fighting to pull free of the hands holding him and as soon as a sharp voice snapped for him to be let go, he was running; he ran and didn’t stop until he was being wrapped in strong shaking arms as Jensen pulled him in tight.

“Jen!” He broke the name off with a sob, not caring about the men around them or that they might still die. All Jared knew was that Jensen was alive and with him and he just clung to him, tightening his arms when he heard a deep gruff voice say something about someone else getting dropped by a scrawny geek.

“He’s scrawny but he’s mean, Kane!” This voice Jared recognized and he whimpered softly, shaking harder, until he felt lips press against his temple in a soft kiss.

“Shh, it’s okay, Jay,” Jensen murmured as he felt Jared shake at the sound of Mike’s voice. “He’s not going to hurt you. None of them will.”

Jared wasn’t sure about that; he was even more confused when he finally lifted his head from where he’d buried it against Jensen’s neck and watched an unconscious Welling being loaded into the back of one of the vehicles while the other two guys, the bald one who’d shot Jensen and had been ordered to keep him in the cabin for Welling and the blond who’d helped take Jensen into the woods were standing around free. “Jensen? What’s going on?” He stayed close, tensing when a long-haired guy came closer.

“You want to sit back down before you fall down?” the guy asked gruffly, rolling his eyes. “You’re bitching at Mike for scaring the kid; I think if you pass out from blood loss and shock, it’ll scare him even more.”

“Shut up, Kane,” Jensen muttered but he did move to sit on cabin porch, keeping Jared tucked against him as he lowered himself to the steps. He grimaced, noticing that Jared tensed as Mike or Chad began to approach them. “Back off. He still thinks you two are the bad guys.”

“ _Hel-lo_! He bit me and I’m the bad guy?” Mike was incredulous, throwing his arms up in the air only to hiss in pain.

Jared turned more into the arms around him, glaring at the bald guy much like he’d done Jensen at one time. “You shot Jensen!” he spat out. “You threatened him!”

“I was trying to keep Welling from killing you two before Kane got closer, kid!” Mike rolled his eyes turning to shoot his superior a dark look. “If you put this kid under federal protection, I want a raise if I have to babysit him. I’d rather fight terrorists again!”

“Huh?” Jared blinked, staring from the men to Jensen, not understanding what that comment meant. “Why would I need federal protection? Jen? What’s…what’s going on?”

JD stepped up slowly, making sure to keep his hands where they could be seen so the younger man wouldn’t feel threatened. “If we’re going to move on Pellegrino then we need to do it now…before he can skip the country,” he told Jensen grimly, slipping the phone he’d been speaking on away. “The DA isn’t any happier with this plan than I am, and he told me to remind you that once we move, once we put it into action, there’s no going back. You’ll be stuck until this is over and…well…if something happens, you’ll be on your own. I can’t put another agent inside a prison, Jensen.” He was grim, catching sight of Kane kicking Chad in the shin to keep him quiet. “You don’t have to do this. We’ll keep trying to…”

“I have enough details in my head, on my hard drive, and on my phone to put Pellegrino away, JD.” Jensen wished he could have spoken to Jared about this alone, but everything was moving too quickly. He could already see the boy’s face clouding in confusion as he tensed and watched them. “You said yourself that without a witness willing to face jail time, Pellegrino would skate too easily. What I have can give the DA enough to keep the heat on while more evidence is found to fully put him away.

“I know what he hired me to do, and now…it’ll look like I did it. That’ll be enough and…I’ll take my chances with the risks.” He nodded slowly. “Make the move. You’ll have the proof the DA will need to work my cover…just give me a few minutes with Jared.”

JD seemed to hesitate before nodding, holding out a hand as he cleared his throat. “It was an honor knowing you, Captain,” he replied gruffly. “Take your time.”

“Jen?” Jared’s voice shook as he began to understand that something bad was happening, something he didn’t understand. As he caught some of the words from the other men who were mumbling about deals, jail time, and Jensen getting killed within a week if he was locked up, he got more and more scared. “What’s…happening? Why are they acting like you’re doing something? Why are you talking like you’re going to jail or back under cover or whatever it’s called?”

“Come inside with me, Jared.” Jensen winced as he stood up, squeezing the hand that he could feel getting colder as Jared’s fears got stronger.

Jared didn’t like Jensen’s voice. He’d never heard it this serious, this low, this heavy before and that scared him. He swallowed as he stepped into the cabin, rubbing his arms against the sudden chill. He turned as Jensen shut the door, but before he could ask what was going on yet again, his back was against the door and Jensen’s lips were on his in a kiss that was both hot and gentle, a combination that had him gasping and aching for more.

“Pellegrino’s lawyers and hired guns are already trying to do damage control. He doesn’t realize how much I know and what the cops and lawyers already have on him from this op. He still thinks he can weasel his way out of this one like he always does,” Jensen began, kissing along Jared’s jaw until he felt the boy kissing back with a growing skill that would have impressed Jensen any other time.

“To make it harder for him to get out of what he’s done, including ordering your Dad’s murder and your kidnapping…the feds need a witness…they need someone willing to testify. So to avoid having the case thrown out for illegal entrapment or something like that, I’m gonna have to keep up my cover as an ex-soldier hired as a gunman for hire. I’m going to tell them that I was basically hired to kidnap you and was then ordered to kill you.” He waited a beat for that to sink in and wasn’t disappointed when Jared got it. “I’ll be in deep cover from the moment I walk out of this cabin…and that means I’ll be facing a jail sentence for my part in the things that I’ve done the last several years.”

Jared went totally still as he began to understand what was being said and why that man outside was talking to Jensen like he had. “But…you’re not a bad guy, Jen. You’re…they’re writing you off,” he whispered, horrified at what this might mean. “No! You…you can’t do this! You…if you go to jail they could…No, no, just let it go. Just forget it and…”

“I promised you that I’d see him put down and I will, Jay.” Jensen slid his hands up and down Jared’s shaking arms, hating to hear the fear in Jared’s voice and wishing he could just take him away and keep him safe. He knew, however, that in the long run, this would be the only way to save him…or so he hoped. He was willing to give up his freedom if it meant Jared could go on and live his life the way he wanted. “Pellegrino’s too good at buying people off or threatening them or killing them. He’ll have a harder time doing most of those things with me”

“But he could still send people into jail to kill you!” Jared tried to push away, to not show how scared he was at this plan. “Jail is bad, Jensen! People there can hurt you even if he doesn’t pay them to! I’ve seen movies!”

“Yeah, I know you have,” Jensen chuckled, carding his fingers back through soft dark hair before letting his fingers trace over Jared’s face as if trying to burn the memory of it into his mind. “And yeah, the risks are high…but if it’s a toss up between finally seeing him behind bars and keeping myself safe, then I’ll gladly put myself at risk…but Pellegrino _will_ go down.” He paused and looked sadly at Jared. He hated to cause him any more distress, but knew this last thing had to be done. “Jay…there is one more thing I need to talk to you about.”

Jared was fighting back sobs of distress. He knew Jensen had always said they’d have to part, that he’d go back to school, but this isn’t how he wanted it done. He didn’t want to think that to finally end this nightmare, Jensen would lose his freedom…and maybe even his life.

He was trying to think of some way to convince the older man not to do this when he suddenly blinked. “Huh? What?” He realized that Jensen had just said something about him still not being safe. “What’s that mean? Why…why wouldn’t I be safe if he’s locked up?”

“Because while the cops and feds can lock him up today, at some point his lawyers will have him back out. And even if he’s behind bars, he still has a lot of people working for him who will do whatever he asks.” Jensen pulled Jared to the sofa to sit down with him, trying not to let the emotions that he was struggling to lock back down show when he soon had an armful of trembling young man. “Even though once I do this I’ll be in a cell, he might be back out…and he will do anything he can to hurt me…and also you. JD and the feds…they could put you under guard but like he said…sometime someone would pay off the right person and you could still be found.”

“So not only am I losing you but I’ll always be looking over my shoulder?” Jared felt sick, scared, and angry as he suddenly shoved up to his feet, no longer caring about the pain in them as he paced the room restlessly. “Why can’t someone just kill _him_? Why don’t bad people get killed like good people do? Why do I have to live in fear of him for the rest of my life? Why do I have to lose you just because he’s rich and mean and has everyone scared of him? Why?!”

Jensen let the boy go. He knew how hard this was…hell, just over a week ago Jared had been a normal college guy and now his whole world had been turned upside down. He wished there was another way to keep Jared safe, some way to let him return to the life he had left a week ago. He wished he could offer some kind of support…or touch him…but the soldier knew that if he touched Jared now, he’d never let him go and that was what he needed to do. He needed to lock every damn emotion away and let this boy go to have whatever life he might still be able to have.

“Because bad guys like Pellegrino always have a way out of trouble, so it’s up to people like me to make sure he loses that way out even if it might take years.” Jensen slowly stood, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves while shifting a hand behind him. “People like you…the good, kind people in the world who get eaten up by assholes like me and Pellegrino, go on to live your life. You’re going to go to a good school someplace else, become some fancy scientist who discovers whole new galaxies or a genius who develops a new computer program.” He offered a slow shaky smile as he stepped closer, reaching up to curve his fingers around Jared’s neck, bringing his face closer and gently kissing him. “You might come to hate me for this, hate me for even coming into your life in the first place, but just try to remember that what I do now, I do to keep you safe.”

“How will I be safe if he’ll never stop hunting me?” Jared asked through tears, longing for more than just some final kisses when he began to realize that he probably wouldn’t be allowed to ever visit Jensen wherever he was sent. “There’s no way for me to be safe, Jensen!”

“Yeah, there is.” Jensen smiled sadly, tightening his fingers to keep Jared in place while bringing a small black pistol into view from where it had been at the small of his back under his t-shirt. “You need to die, Jay. As much as I hate it…as much as I wish JD and the others could keep you safe…the only one sure way to make Pellegrino leave you alone is for him to think you’re dead. And if I’m going to rot in a cell for the rest of my life to make sure he gets locked up, then it’ll be your death that sends me there. I’m sorry, babe.”

Jared’s eyes went wide, confused fear reflecting in them for a second before gentle lips claimed his. He thought about struggling, pulling away, but then he gave into the kiss with a whimper, jerking as he felt something slam into his chest, something that took his breath away leaving him trying to gasp for air that wouldn’t come.

“Shh, shh.” Jensen moved quickly, dropping the weapon and catching Jared, easing him to the floor. He caught and held the weak hand that tried to shove him away. “I know it hurts, but it’ll stop soon. Getting hit with a blank blood capsule at point blank range will hurt just like you were shot…it’ll knock the breath out of you for a few minutes. It’s gonna leave a bruise, but it will fade…as I hope your memories of me, of this, will fade with time.” He ignored the pain in his leg to kneel beside a gasping, confused, and frightened young man, brushing soft fingers over his cheek. “You’re gonna pass out soon, but before you do, listen to me one more time, Jared.

“When you wake up, JD will explain how everything will work. Jared Tristan Padalecki is about die in this cabin. You’ll be given a new life, new name, new everything someplace else. You can go to school or do whatever it is you want to do.” He pressed a finger against Jared’s lips, unaware of the tears on his own face until they dropped onto Jared’s cheeks to mix with his. “Chris, Chad, and even Mike will keep you safe as you adjust…it’s okay to trust them. I promise they won’t do anything to hurt you. But I need you to forget about me…because I need to know you’ll be safe from this…from me…from him. That’s that only way I’ll survive in a cell, Jay. I need to know that even if you hate me now, for this, that you’ll be safe in the long run.”

Jensen looked to the ceiling, trying to blink the tears away before leaning down to give one final kiss to Jared’s forehead, letting his lips move close to his ear to whispered one last message as he saw the young man beginning to let the pain and shock he was in pull him under. “I love you, Jared. You saved me from becoming a man like those I want to stop. No guilt or pain. This is my choice, and I meant everything I told you. I wish it could’ve been different. I wish I could’ve given you your first time.” He waited until Jared’s eyes closed and he knew the young man was unconsciousness before trying to stand up. But he stayed where he was for a moment longer. “I know you won’t hear this, but if you happen to in your subconscious…when you look at those stars you love so much remember them that night and what we might’ve had. G’bye, Jared.”

Taking a moment to clear his face of any emotions, locking them back away as they had been for so long, Jensen’s hands shook as he reached for the door but were steady when he stepped out onto the porch to lock eyes with his former teammates. “If any one of you screw him or betray him. I will find a way to get out of whatever hell hole they stick me in and I will rip your throat out,” he promised thickly, stepping off the porch with his hands held out. “There’s a gun with my fingerprints on the floor next to the body. Make sure you get pictures. Now arrest me, make the cover story stick, and build him a new life where no one or nothing from this mess will ever touch him again.”

“Good luck, Jensen,” JD Morgan told him grimly. “You’ll need it.”

“No, it doesn’t matter…because I just killed the only thing that ever really would’ve mattered to me.” Jensen looked back to the cabin one last time. “Now it’s just making sure Pellegrino goes down before someone kills me. Love you, Jay.” He whispered the last words for the final time as he steeled himself for whatever was to come.

** Present Day: Schuylkill FCI:  **

That day still haunted Jensen as he lay on his bed in the cell that had been his home since he’d been moved after the last attempt on his life.

The first few weeks and months after that day, the day when he’d basically killed not only the man Jared had been but also his fragile trust had been the hardest. It was unknown if his story would be bought, if his testimony would be enough to get an indictment, but in the end it had been, and that was, as Jensen would later learn, the actual start of the hell that his choice created.

He’d known that JD and his pals in DC had pulled strings to get him placed in a medium security facility instead of a maximum one like the prosecution had originally pushed for, but even that hadn’t stopped the attacks. After a while he stopped caring and just waited to be knifed or attacked with some form of weapon.

The hard man he’d already been when he came in had become even harder in five years. He had more scars, both inside and out, and some memories that he’d take to his grave with him, but each time he began to doubt or lose focus, he looked at the faded, crinkled photo of Jared that he’d taken that day on the overlook. JD had slipped it to him on the last day of his trial and he’d kept it with him ever since. He knew he shouldn’t continue to hang onto it because despite everything he said to Jared that night, there were times, like right now, when it hurt him to look into that smiling face. It also made him wonder too much about Jared…how he was and what he had been doing for the past five years…if he had managed to achieve some semblance of normal after his life had been turned upside down.

Lying in the quiet dark cell, Jensen thought of Pellegrino. He’d been torn between relief and bitter irony when he’d heard that the man had been found guilty on all charges, including arranging the deaths of Jared and his father. Despite the overwhelming number of crimes, he knew the odds of the man getting life in prison, much less the death sentence he deserved, were slim. He’d probably get 20 years, if that much, while Jensen knew he’d never see the sun…or the stars…again.

His eyes were closed, his breathing even despite the emotions churning inside him when he heard the sound of his cell door opening. He couldn’t quite help the small smile that curved his thin, but still rugged, tired face. “So, I wondered why you didn’t do it in the weight room today…or why you didn’t do it before someone offed the old man. Pellegrino’s people still paying you to kill me…Clif?”

The big guard that had been watching Jensen’s back for the last three years shrugged as he stepped in, leaving the door open while screwing a silencer on a gun that was not his normal weapon. “Even with the man dead, there are quite a few people who are worried about how much you know. I don’t think you know anything important or at least you wouldn’t bother to say anything now that he’s dead.” He shrugged. “I don’t know what the hell you did or why you’d put yourself in here, but a paycheck’s a paycheck, and it’ll cushion the retirement that’s coming up. Was he worth it?” he asked with a nod of his head to the photo in Jensen’s hand still. “Was giving up your life for some kid who ended up dying anyway really worth it?”

“Even knowing he hated me…that he might still hate me, Jay will always be worth whatever I’ve gone through these five years.” Jensen pushed up to his elbow, but made no attempt to move; the cell was too small for him to avoid a bullet, and he still had a limp from the last damn time he took one of those.

The guard lifted the gun, but he stopped and frowned. “Wait. You used the present tense. The Padalecki kid isn’t dead?” He stared at the stoic face watching him. “But you were arrested for murdering him on Pellegrino’s orders even though you originally refused…so why would you…why would you make a slip like that now, Ackles?” he demanded, stepping farther into the cell.

“Why not? I’ll be dead,” Jensen stared his killer in the face without blinking and silently hoped sometime in the last five years he had been forgiven, so he could at least die knowing that. “But then so will you.”

With that, he kicked the blanket off the bed and toward the guard before moving quickly, trying to grab the wrist with the gun but grunted at the hard fist to a rib that was still sore from being broken a few weeks back. He felt a strong arm wrap around his neck and begin choke him.

“No one to save you this time, Ackles,” Clif told him grimly. “Sorry. Nothing personal…”

**TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Seven**

As the arm tightened around his throat, Jensen tensed, trying to break the hold while also keeping the gun from moving. But while the minor attacks in recent weeks hadn’t seriously injured him, they had weakened him enough that he was unable to get any leverage on the larger guard, and he groaned when his head was shoved hard into the cement wall of his cell.

“Funny…I think I said that…same line to Jared…the first night.” He tasted blood and felt his head begin to get fuzzy from lack of air. He gave up on breaking the choke hold and put his hands flat on the wall, trying to keep his head from being caved in. Suddenly lights began to blink and the cellblock alarms started going off loudly, indicating that there was an escape attempt or trouble in the block.

“What the hell?” Clif growled, yanking Jensen away from the back wall. He started to bring the pistol up when he grunted as a fist struck him in the shoulder, hitting a nerve that loosened his grip but not enough to break it. “I shut those damn alarms off before I came down here.”

“Looks like someone…turned ‘em back on,” Jensen gritted, throwing a hand back in a last ditch effort to hit the guard in the eye, anything to break his hold so he could get some room to try to defend himself. He accepted that he would probably die in the cell, but he’d be damned if he would go without putting up a good fight. “That’s…gonna bring the whole platoon of guards down here, Clif. They’re gonna find you in my cell. How’s that gonna help your…career?”

Jensen grunted when a large hard hand pounded into his already swimming head and he dropped to the floor with a groan, arms folding over his midsection to protect it from hard kicks. “You…gonna beat me to death now?”

“You tried to escape. I had to fight you. Accidents happen.” Clif shrugged, kicking again when he moved his pistol. “It’ll be justifiable the way I spin it. Just another hard ass killer trying to make a break for it.”

“Yeah, except this hard ass didn’t actually kill anyone.”

The unexpected voice had Jensen frowning and the guard whirling with his weapon aimed and ready to shoot when the distinctive sound of a gun being discharged was heard echoing in the cell block.

“Unlike you who just pretty much admitted to being bought off to kill Ackles over the PA system.” Michael Rosenbaum smirked at the surprised and now bleeding guard who had dropped his weapon to grab for his wounded shoulder. “So…does this make us even for me shooting you in the leg five years ago, Captain?” he asked curiously as two uniformed guards moved in past him to hustle a bleeding Clif out to where men in suits waited to arrest the man.

Looking up at his surprise rescuer, Jensen groaned as he tried to sit up, taking the hand that was extended and letting himself be pulled to his feet and steadied when he swayed a little too much. A distant voice could be heard calling for a doctor while other voices shushed the complaints of the disgruntled prisoners who’d been rudely awakened by all of this.

“Yeah, I suppose I can finally forgive you for that,” Jensen muttered, sitting on the bed to eye the no longer bald man curiously. “What…are you doing here, Mike?”

“Besides saving your ass? Taking your ass out of here.” Mike put his gun away and stepped farther into the cell to take his first good look at Jensen, whistling low. “Damn. You look like crap, Jensen. And I’m probably understating it since the lighting in this place sucks.”

“Yeah, five years locked in a cell and surviving constant attacks and threats will do that to a guy,” Jensen snorted. His fingers slipped the photo that he’d never let go of during the attack into a pocket of the bright orange jumpsuit while his other hand rubbed the growing lump on his head with a grimace of pain. “What do you mean taking me out? That’s not possible even with Pellegrino dead…is he really dead? How’d he die? And…no, never mind. I know you can’t tell me how he’s been…if you even know.”

Mike eyed the cell and then Jensen before tugging on the sleeve of his old friend’s loose fitting jumpsuit. Even with the natural looseness of the outfit, he could tell the normally ruggedly built and fit former soldier had lost a lot of weight in addition to looking drawn and worn out. “C’mon, they’re waiting in the warden’s office. Anything you want to keep? Tell me now and I’ll have the Men in Black out there pack it up.”

Jensen wasn’t sure what was going on or why he was being moved, or to where for that matter, but he simply shook his head at the question and patted his pocket. “The only thing I have in here that means anything is his picture and that’s with me so no.” He yawned and rubbed his aching head again; he wondered if maybe he had a concussion because he still didn’t understand why there were feds in the prison.

No, not just feds but also several men he knew or had known from before, but as Jensen pulled himself to his feet, he decided it didn’t matter. He’d go see what was waiting in the warden’s office and then just accept the move to whatever facility was now going to be stuck with him.

“They can pack this stuff up and ship it to wherever I’m going next to save money or whatever.” He tensed subtly at the hand on his arm until it was moved. “Is the asshole really dead, Mike?”

Mike was trying to decide between continuing to the warden’s office and making a trip to the prison infirmary when he got a better look at Jensen. As he took in the many bruises on Jensen’s visible skin, he knew he had to have been pretty badly hurt in that cell attack.

None of them had been allowed to visit Jensen during the past five years but he, Chad, and Chris had all picked up little rumors, so they knew that Jensen had had a rough time in prison. Some helpful hacking of JD’s private files told of the attempts on Jensen’s life that hadn’t been reported by the prison officials to the Attorney General’s office in Washington, D.C.

“Yeah, Pellegrino’s actually dead. The official cause of death is suicide…unofficially, well…between you, me, and this cement wall let’s just say karma came back to bite him in the ass.” Mike gave a nod to a few men as he and Jensen moved to the steps that would take them up to the main floor, noticing the tension that had been in those shoulders had lessened a little but not all the way. “As for the other question you didn’t ask…I really should say that you owe me a boatload of favors considering the pain in the ass your boy’s been to me and the other guys these five damn years. God, please…whatever the hell else you do when this is over please, please get that kid out of what hair I’ve grown back,” he nearly begged.

Jensen’s eyes had closed while they waited for someone to open another of the locked security doors leading from the cells into the main prison unit. He’d been listening to Mike while trying to calm his nerves as to what might be waiting in the warden’s office when suddenly he heard those exasperated words and green eyes snapped back open.

“Wait. What? What the hell do you mean ‘my boy’s been a pain in your ass’?” he demanded, confused but also very uneasy. “You…you’ve seen him? I mean…like recently? After the whole faking his death and getting him settled in a new life? You guys…Chad…Chris, you’ve seen Jared?”

“Seen him? Dude, who do you think got the thankless job of keeping his stubborn ass out of trouble?” Mike rolled his eyes, pushing up his sleeve to show a faint scar on his arm. “He’s stubborn, mule headed, impetuous, temperamental, sneaky, and can I mention mean as hell when he wants to be? He bit me _again_ , Jensen!” He still sounded outraged even though it had been three years. “I won’t mention the times he’s been in Kane’s face hollering about something or other…which scared the crap out of me and Chad cause you know how damn mean Kane can be with us. Miracle he hasn’t killed your boy yet.”

Jensen stared at the man, unsure what to feel or what to even ask. “I know I told JD to protect him, make sure he was safe, but normally once someone’s settled they back off the protection unless…what the hell happened?” he demanded lowly, amazed that even though five years had passed, the second he was confronted with news that maybe Jared hadn’t been as safe as he’d been hoping he was, all the protective emotions came rushing back. “The only way JD or his bosses would have approved anyone from the group staying in contact with Jared after he was settled was if his life was still in danger. Did Pellegrino find…”

“To the day he died that asshole believed you’d killed Jared,” Mike assured him, ignoring the glares of the guards. It was plain to the prison staff that something major was going on by the amount of activity and the number or men in suits who were in the prison this late at night. “There was an issue one time when Welling escaped the federal hold he’d been put in, but by that point JD had already decided Jared needed more protection than normal.”

Only knowing how the guards would react if he did what he suddenly wanted kept Jensen from grabbing Mike by the throat at the thought of Welling going after and possibly hurting Jared. “Welling escaped?” he growled. “Did he find Jared? Did he hurt him?”

“You know, I was on board with Kane’s plan to make the bastard vanish into a black hole or something before he ever made it to a cell, but JD and the Attorney General had to do things the legal way, so they put him in some heavy duty federal jail in Texas. He escaped a year later when some stupid moron turned his back on him in the exercise yard.” Mike still sounded disgusted at that. “He still had some buddies who’d picked up rumors that maybe Jared’s death wasn’t as real as people believed. And yeah, he actually traced the kid to where we’d stashed his cocky butt up in Boston where he was completing whatever the hell degree he got in something…you hit me right now and I can’t promise Chad or I can stop those ugly guys with guns over there,” he warned after feeling the way Jensen was tensing.

“Did he hurt him?” Jensen demanded, not even noticing that his voice had dropped into a low growl.

“The kid got a few bruises, a cut, and a dislocated shoulder out of it, but Welling got a helluva lot worse when Kane got to the scene.” Mike sighed, motioning that all was fine and pulling Jensen into the stairwell where he knew the cameras had been disconnected for a short time. “No, he’s not dead yet, but he’s been beat up more times in that max security jail than you have been here…or at least I think so seeing as JD’s had to keep a tight lid on what’s been happening with you or else risk someone else finding out and all hell breaking loose…again.”

Jensen sat on a step, needing to catch his breath suddenly and just center himself. This was the first time in five years that he felt he didn’t have to watch his back and could actually breathe. “I told you guys that I knew the risks I was taking. I accepted them. I know you, Chad and Chris weren’t happy with my choices, but I thought you’d accepted leaving me to rot too.”

“We accepted your choice to do what you did to ensure the kid’s safety, but that never meant any of us actually liked it,” Mike replied, leaning on the rail to take a better look at Jensen. He realized that there would be a lot of snarling and yelling soon…and not just when Kane and JD got a look at Jensen. “But I wasn’t talking about us.” He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck with a hesitant look. “Jared didn’t handle this decision of yours as well as I think you thought he might. In fact…I’m surprised he hasn’t landed himself in a federal cell for some of the crap he’s pulled. He likes to remind JD of his promise to make his and our lives a living hell until we got off our asses and got you out of here.”

Lifting his head to stare, Jensen wasn’t sure what to say to that. He’d honestly expected Jared to be pissed about what he’d done to him in the cabin. He’d spent five years accepting that he’d done what was best for the kid and that he deserved Jared’s hate for everything he’d put him through. He’d thought that after a month or two, six at the most, Jared would have moved on to his new life and forgotten all about him. Now Mike was saying that not only hadn’t Jared forgotten him, but it also seemed he’d been making a nuisance of himself with Jensen’s former teammates as well. “Is…has he been…okay?” he asked, hoping he had been. “You said he got a degree?” “Jensen, that kid’s got more degrees and doctorates and fancy pieces of paper than most of us got medals or awards in the service,” Mike replied with a snort, ignoring the buzzing in his ear; he was content to give this man the time he needed. “Did you know that past that boyish face, those big eyes, and the clumsy feet he had a genius level IQ? And once he got pissed off about what happened with you, and once he got done screaming at JD and a few top lawyers, he breezed through college. Finished his undergraduate degree in a year and a couple masters programs after that. He’s got at least one PhD now…maybe two, I can’t keep track.” He shook his head as he recalled the stress of his recent life.

“You can ask Kane for all the details…I stopped trying to understand the titles and even what the hell he was studying if it didn’t involve him hacking into government computers or other places he shouldn’t have snooping.” Mike shuddered at that. “He hacked into the White House computers, Jensen. For an entire day the Vice-President’s laptop had smiley faces eating bunnies on it until finally JD gave in and gave him just a little bit of information on you.

“I mean, we love the damn kid. Despite being a huge pain in the ass most days with an attitude to match yours, he really does come in handy most of the time. He hacks better than out best computer techs, so now JD just lets him do stuff like that since it’s either keep him busy or listen to him get into fights with the nerds at NASA over how they got a star system all wrong or something.” He grabbed Jensen’s jumpsuit, almost in pleading desperation. “Please, please, please…take him off of our hands…give us just a month of peace so Kane will stop snarling in Russian and Chad won’t have to smooth over ruffled feathers at the Pentagon if one of their drones goes missing again. No, don’t ask me what the hell he was planning to do with that thing...I have no idea. I think it’s still a disassembled mess in the basement of his apartment in Boston.”

The thought of Jared annoying the hell out of men like Mike or Chris Kane made Jensen smile, but then the rest of the details hit him and he stared. “JD’s letting him work with the group?” he demanded incredulously. “Why? If he got through college and has all those degrees or whatever, then shouldn’t he be doing what he loves to do? Damn it! I don’t want him being touched by this life. You tell JD to stop letting him do whatever the hell it is he has him doing! You tell him that Jared’s too innocent to be involved in the crap we…I mean you guys still get into. Tell him…”

“You can tell JD all of that yourself, dude.” Mike nodded up the steps. “He’s in the warden’s office with the AG waiting on your ass to get there and…”

“Mike! JD wants to know if you got lost with Jensen or what!” Chad Michael Murray’s voice shouted from the door up above them, gesturing wildly for them to hurry up. “Plus, you’ve gotta see the news! You know how JD ordered our less than favorite geek not to do anything rash or stupid while he was on his own for the few days it took us to arrange this?” He was torn between laughing and banging his head against the first solid object he could find. “Well, he did exactly what he’s been threatening to do since Pellegrino’s death was first announced.”

“Oh no. No. He wouldn’t do that. He couldn’t do that. Kane gave him like a nine hour speech on why doing that would so not be a good idea for anyone,” Mike groaned. He was hopeful that his friend was joking, but as Chad’s eyes bounced with undisguised mischief and glee, he started shoving Jensen up the steps faster in his haste to get to a TV.

Even as they were stepping into the main hall of the prison where the desks and check in stations were located, the sound of a news show could be heard. Despite the TV being turned away from them, Mike started swearing under his breath as he heard a voice speaking and he vowed to break ‘that damn kid’s legs’ when he got back to him. “Oh my God. He really did it,” he groaned, knowing this was going to cause all types of headaches. No one was sure if they had cleared away any threats of possible retaliation from within the scattered Pellegrino organization. “He’s been threatening to reveal the truth, to come out of hiding for at least a year…he swore he was gonna do it whenever Pellegrino was finally found guilty…but I actually never thought he’d…has JD or Kane seen this?” Mike was stunned, not shocked…just stunned. While Jared had threatened to do this plenty of times, none of them had ever thought the damn kid would ever actually go through with it.

Chad had been eyeing Jensen and wondering who he was going to have to beat up for allowing his friend to get so badly bruised. “JD has seen it…but right now he’s busy keeping the Attorney General from ripping the warden here a new asshole and as for the other…” He stuck his tongue in his cheek and nodded to where the deep, gruff enraged voice of Chris Kane could be heard shouting. “Yeah, Kane’s seen it.”

“What the fuck do you mean he said he doesn’t have to take my call because he’s no longer under our protection? The fuck he’s not, Cohen! You tell that damn kid that until JD says…until the Attorney General of the United States says…hell, until the goddamn President himself says he’s free and clear…he is still our problem so get him on this damn phone right this goddamn second!” Kane was shouting into his cell phone, obviously not caring about how his voice was carrying and completely ignoring the attempts to shush him from a well-meaning prison guard. “Dude, I will break that hand if it’s not out of my face in three seconds flat!” he growled.

Jensen stepped closer to the TV in the small room. He didn’t pay any attention to the shouting going on or the uneasy looks from the guards who weren’t sure what was happening or why he wasn’t cuffed or restrained in any way. He didn’t even notice when Mike began to bang his head on a wall while muttering about hardheaded nerds determined to drive him to an early grave. All Jensen saw and heard was Jared.

The photo in his pocket and the pictures in his memory were five years old. He knew that in the time that had passed, Jared would have changed at least a little. At 21-years-old, Jared had been a young man who still had a little growing to do. As he squinted at the small screen he could see that Jared had indeed changed; he was also a little stunned at those changes.

The boy he’d met, abducted, fell in love with, and sacrificed his freedom and life for had been just that: a boy. Back then Jared had been a shy, quiet, handsome boy who hadn’t quite grown comfortable with himself. The man he saw on the TV screen was tall, handsome…no, Jensen mentally corrected himself as the camera zoomed in closer to give him a better look and he felt his lips curving slightly for the first time in years.

Jared had indeed grown in five years. He’d surpassed handsome and slipped into the drop dead hot and gorgeous category; it appeared he’d also grown into not only his long arms and legs but also all that damn long floppy hair which, as he stood behind a podium to speak, still fell into those hazel eyes.

Jensen wished he could freeze the image of the slightly fuller but still handsome face; he could still see the obvious signs of the dimples that would be there if he smiled fully. Then his breath caught as heard the deep smooth voice that was speaking; it had deepened slightly but still had a trace of the soft drawl that he could remember Jared having when he spoke of the stars that one night. Everyone in the area fell silent as Jared started speaking.

“Five years ago, _I was kidnapped by a man working for Mark Pellegrino in the hopes of influencing my father’s decisions in a court case. My life was in constant danger…and continued to be in danger even after Pellegrino had my father murdered. It was with deep grief and confusion that I agreed to go into Witness Protection. I have been living under a new identity, trying to get my life back in order for the last five years_.” Jared spoke clearly, easily and without even looking down as if reading from a statement. “ _The DA’s office and several others all had very strong cases against Pellegrino for the acts he committed even before he chose to murder my father and also tried to kill me. When he was finally and justly found guilty of most of those crimes, including the actual murder of my mother years earlier, I stayed in the program to ensure my safety and that of my…family and friends. Now that Pellegrino is dead, I feel safe in coming forward._

“ _I was advised that choosing to tell my story today is unwise…that I might still be in danger from those working for what’s left of Pellegrino’s company. That might be true, but I’ve hidden for long enough. I’ve spent five years growing up, completing college, and trying to make a life for myself. I’ve spent five years away from the life I once led, the friends I once had, hiding in shadows, always afraid that someone might find me. A very brave man told me once that I had more courage than I thought I did, that my courage was right here_.” Jared’s hand lifted to press against his heart while he moved his eyes to the camera; a flash of what might’ve been sadness filled his eyes before he recovered quickly. “ _This man gave up everything for me. He sacrificed his life and freedom so I could live safely, without fearing the man who had haunted me since I was five-years-old. The decision to come out of hiding, to take back my name and also my inheritance that my aunt has been squandering illegally, is mine and, like my friend did, I will accept the risks that come_.”

“ _What about the man convicted of your murder?_ ” a reporter in the crowd asked. “ _If you’re not dead then were his crimes all faked just to convict Mr. Pellegrino?_ ”

“ _No._ ” Jared voice dropped subtly but only one person watching the TV probably noticed the whitening of his knuckles as the 26 year old gripped the podium side tightly. “ _In working for Pellegrino, Jensen did commit crimes that he felt needed to be atoned for…including my kidnapping. He took the fall for my father’s murder in addition to my own because he was the only person willing to testify against Pellegrino that couldn’t be bought off, threatened, or, hopefully, killed by his stooges. The evidence against the real killer of my father and several other people has recently come to light and the man, who is already behind bars for other crimes, will be charged, tried, and hopefully will never be a threat to anyone ever again._

 _“I haven’t heard anything yet, but I am hoping that those in charge will rethink the sentence given in Jensen’s case…or perhaps even consider a new trial because he’s already spent five years in prison just because he wanted to do the right thing. I will be doing whatever it takes to see this happens as well as reestablishing my…_ ”

Jensen couldn’t be anymore numb than he was right that moment, reaching out to grab onto a chair to keep his balance and jerking away from the hand that grabbed him. He heard Chad snap at a guard to back the hell off. He wasn’t sure what he expected Jared to say to explain things, but it certainly wasn’t what he heard. He sure didn’t expect to hear that Jared might still be willing to believe in him, might even want to see him again at some point.

“He not only outed himself as alive, but now he’s feeding things to the press that aren’t even…what the hell do you mean he laid all the dirt on Welling?” Chris was growling into his phone when he suddenly shook his head in frustration. “Cohen, tell him to call me or JD back ASAP or when I get to him I will wrap something around his neck!” He stopped short of throwing his phone across the room and blew out a hard breath as he turned to Mike. “Get Jensen to the warden’s office and then find someone to tell me the names of the assholes who’ve been hassling him because I need someone to take this frustration out on and they’re it!”

“Don’t break anyone!” Chad yelled as the gruff ex-marine headed off to find answers while the other two took Jensen to the warden’s office where another stern voice could be heard shouting. “I think that the warden might be looking for a new job tomorrow,” he muttered under his breath, reaching out to catch a sleeve. “You okay?”

“What’s going on, Chad?” Jensen still didn’t know what this was about or what he’d be facing when he walked into the office. He’d expected to be told he was being moved to a different prison in the system…now he wasn’t sure. He was trying to keep any unease from showing, but it was difficult when just seeing those damn big eyes on TV had reminded him of the last time he and Jared had seen one another…and what that had cost him.

“Just go in, dude,” Chad replied, knocking once before opening the door. JD Morgan was standing beside the large desk while the Attorney General of the United States slammed his fist on it and glared at the unhappy and chagrined warden of the Federal Correctional Institute. “Sorry we’re late. Had some delays considering a guard was trying to kill him when Mike got to him and all.”

JD glanced over, frowned as he took Jensen’s appearance in, and leaned closer to whisper something to the top lawyer of the government when he paused yelling long enough to take a breath. “You look like hell, son,” he said, turning to extend a hand. He didn’t let on that he noticed the slight tension when Jensen slowly reached out to take his hand or how weak his grasp seemed in comparison to the strength he knew the man should have had. “You need a medic now or can it wait until we’re done here? They’re getting the paperwork drawn up now.”

“No, I’m good.” Jensen wasn’t really sure he was ‘good’ since his head was hurting enough that he was having troubling focusing, but he shrugged it off for the moment to figure out exactly what was going on. “I can probably wait until I get to wherever you guys are shipping me off to.” He did take the seat that Mike shoved behind him, resting his eyes as the growling voices of the AG and the warden were starting to echo. “I saw Jared’s press thing. Will he be okay?”

“Oh, probably…unless you can’t get him out of Kane’s line of sight fast enough,” JD replied, moving away from the desk to pull a chair closer. He sat down and put a gentle hand on the younger man’s shoulder. “Jensen, it’s over. Pellegrino’s dead.”

“Yep, heard that earlier,” Jensen sighed, wincing as he opened his eyes to look at his former boss. “I don’t want you letting Jared work for the group. I want him to be doing something he loves like discovering a galaxy or inventing a computer that everyday people without a dozen degrees can work. He doesn’t need to be in this life. He needs to be happy.”

“He seems pretty damn happy hacking into things he shouldn’t be able to,” the AG groused without even turning to look at Jensen. Instead, he continued sticking his finger into the Warden’s chest. “Half of this crap in your personal reports did not make it back to the people controlling this situation!” he yelled, furious as he continued to uncover more details. His own head was throbbing as he recalled the numerous emails he had received with the promise that the president’s morning computer report would be of barking dogs dancing the samba if this mess wasn’t fixed ‘right the fuck now’. “The incident in the yard, the fall down the steps, the ‘misunderstanding’ with a new set of guards, none of that was reported! Not to mention you obviously had every reason to suspect that someone on your payroll had been bought out and yet you still did nothing!” He slammed his fist on the desk, getting angrier with the now stuttering man. “I _personally_ explained this situation to you when we put Mr. Ackles inside your facility and you assured me that you would monitor his situation carefully! You assured me you would make sure he received protection as needed! This does not look like a man who was monitored and protected while in your care, Warden! This looks like a man who has barely survived five long years of hell!”

Warden McKinley had inwardly cringed as the young prisoner was escorted into his office. He’d been noticing how thin he seemed to be getting, but he had been too busy with other matters to draw him aside to find out what might have been happening. He’d been relying on his guards to inform him of problems with their mystery inmate. Now he saw that perhaps that had been a mistake.

“Sir, I assure you that I…” He stopped when the paperwork was slammed in front of him, pulling at his collar as it seemed to tighten. “Might I ask how you got those reports, sir?”

“No! You may not ask me how I got them!” The Attorney General would burn in hell before he admitted a civilian kid not yet close to 30 had burrowed his sneaky little fingers into the secure federal prison system’s computers to pull them out. “All you need to know is that I have them and now I’m going to have a team of investigators down here to start going over this whole place because I have serious doubts about you and your staff!

“In fact after you get those papers I ordered drawn up and Mr. Morgan takes control of that end of things, you and I are going to have a long talk about just where your ass might be landing,” he growled, seeing JD nod his understanding. “You have this or should I call in more help?”

JD eyed Jensen closely. He still could read the ex-ranger so he knew he was hurting physically but trying his best to hide it. He could also tell the man was emotionally drained and exhausted. It was also pretty damn plain that he hadn’t quite caught on to what was happening right then…why everyone was there. “No, we can handle this once you get the paperwork signed and I get him the hell out of his place.”

“Where am I going now? Or can’t I know?” Jensen winced at the hand batting his shoulder. “What? I think as the inmate in question I should at least get to know where I’m going.”

“Dude, try to focus that sharp brain a second. You’re not being moved to another jail. You’re being let out. All the records will be expunged. It’ll be like you were never here,” Chad told him then frowned. “Except for the bruises and memories and five years of lost…yeah, shutting up now.”

JD scowled at the often too hyper agent and waved his hand to get Jensen’s attention back on him. He was pleased to see a bit more life returning to deep green eyes as he began to take in that he might be freed. “You did it, became the man your original cover needed you to be, took the blame for things you didn’t do, put Pellegrino put behind bars where he belonged. You did that, Jensen. You…”

“I did this to keep Jared safe from that bastard and his cronies,” Jensen corrected, head buzzing as the words began to rush him.

“You did that too,” JD nodded, laying a firm on a thin shoulder to feel it shaking. “Pellegrino’s dead. His company is just scrambling to keep their legal side of things afloat with all the heat the feds brought down once his computers were torn apart and revealed just how dirty he was. I told you the day you agreed to do this that the second we could get you out of this, as soon as it was safe to backtrack a little, we would get you out. That time is now, Jensen. The president signed the papers, the AG is getting everyone else in order, and probably by the morning, Chad will have wiped the national database clean of any mention of you in regards to this.”

“Hell, I probably won’t get the chance. Our newest and least favorite hacker will do it the second he gets told Jensen’s out,” Chad snorted, leaning against the wall. “Unless Kane breaks his hands first…or throttles him for deciding to come out of hiding a little too early.”

Jensen narrowed his eyes between the men, making himself focus on what he thought was being said. “What about the other charges against me?” he asked warily; five years of fighting to stay alive made his already suspicious nature even more so. “Jared…on the TV he said evidence had been found against the real killer of his dad and others. What’s…”

“Yeah, we’ll figure that out later. Let’s just say that evidence came up that Welling and his lawyers will find hard to dispute.” JD coughed into his hand, ignoring the mutter from Mike about finding that kid a hobby that was legal. “The rest of the charges that put you here were waived. This operation, this cover, was never meant to put you in prison for 30 days much less 5 years…certainly not the max that was suggested, Jensen. You’re free. Once you walk out of the gates, you can do whatever you want, go wherever you want.”

“See whoever you want and please, please, please for the love of all that’s holy get that damn kid out of our hair for at least a month…preferably six so I can get off my anxiety meds,” Mike begged.

Jensen blinked as if still not willing to trust that this could be real…that he might actually be able to walk out of the facility free…that he could possibly see Jared. “He…he just announced he was alive. He has a lot of stuff to do to put his life back in order. He…I…he might not even want to see…”

“Dude, have you been listening to me and Mike at all?” Chad demanded, shaking his head. “JD has had to threaten that kid with bodily harm so many times that I lost count because he wanted to come see you. He wanted to come with us, but JD said no. So I’m guessing his press conference was his way to get back at the boss for not letting him. I will promise you, no, I will bet money that the second he gets wind that you are out, he will be on a plane to wherever you are.”

“I’m…” Jensen wanted to believe that but it was almost too much to hope for, so he tamped down the need to see and touch Jared and focused on what was possible at the moment. “If you’re right, if I’m really getting out of here, I just want a shower and some sleep first.”

“While the paperwork comes through from this end, Chad and Mike are taking you down to the infirmary to get looked over after what happened earlier,” JD told him, holding up a hand to halt the obvious objection that might bring. “One of our medics is down there. Go let him look you over and then once you get some decent sleep and food, you’re going to let them do a more through exam. Go!”

Jensen wasn’t excited about letting anyone close to him, but he gave in with a grumble. The medic was someone he knew, so he merely answered the simple questions, winced when he was poked and prodded, and gratefully sipped from a bottle of soda Mike brought while Chad went to find Kane and make sure he wasn’t actually killing any guards. With familiar people around him, he finally began to relax and was actually half asleep when someone nudged him.

“JD’s got the papers cleared. I’ve got your stuff so change out of the orange suit and let’s get the hell outta here.” Chris Kane was standing there holding out clean clothes, eyes appraising. “These will probably fall off of you. How much weight have you lost?”

“Ask the doctor.” Jensen was tired, but he was also anxious now. He’d signed his name on papers that looked like release forms so now he just wanted out of here, out into the fresh air and away from the too watchful eyes. “They’ll work.”

He’d taken a quick shower and felt a little more human, but he wouldn’t really feel clean until he had an actual shower in an actual bathroom with a door that locked His stomach managed to hold down a bland sandwich but as Jensen struggled to tie his boots, it was hard to keep his hands from shaking.

He looked at the worn photo for a long moment before slipping it into a pocket of the button down shirt that he put on over a T-shirt, shaking his head at the jacket for the moment. “Is this legit, Chris?” he asked the ex-marine quietly. “No joke or trick? Am I really getting out of here? Will I really be free?”

“Yeah, you’re walking out of here a free man.” Chris only wished he could have left a few more bodies bruised after he’d seen the new scars on his friend’s back and just how thin the man had become.

Jensen had always had a lean build, but now as Chris had watched him change, he’d been able to see the outline of more ribs than he liked. He could tell a lot of crap had happened that hadn’t been put in those reports. “JD said we can get a motel for the night so you can sleep like the dead, or if you know where you want to go, we can just head there. Your call.”

“Huh. It’s been awhile since I’ve had to make a decision,” Jensen murmured, tensing when the door opened to allow the warden to enter.

“If I had been fully informed to the exact circumstances of your incarceration here, I assure you that things would have been much different, Mr. Ackles,” McKinley spoke, tone stiff but apologetic as he held out a hesitant hand. “I hope you can get on with your life and put this behind you.”

Jensen stared at the hand but didn’t make a move to return the gesture as he merely nodded. “Can I go now?” he asked instead, feeling Chris beside him as if he was worried that he might lose his balance again. The slight concussion he had on top of exhaustion and just plain burn-out was making his equilibrium hard to find.

“Of course,” McKinley nodded, stepping back to allow the young man to pass. “It’s policy for me to walk you out, but Mr. Morgan and those other two…gentlemen…are waiting for you at the gate.” He walked beside Jensen but made no move to touch him or even get too close.

It felt weird to be dressed in something other than the orange jumpsuit. The jeans and shirts were too loose, but it was still a relief to be back in his own clothes. Jensen was anxious to get the hell out of this place and maybe place a phone call before he passed out.

Jensen swore it took an hour to pass all the security doors, but finally the main door opened to let him step out into the cool crisp late October afternoon, and he took his first deep breath of fresh air. It was only then that the ex-Army Ranger started to relax more.

The warden walked with them all the way to the main gate. The bright sun blinded Jensen at first as he wasn’t used to actual sunlight, but he turned down Chris’s offer of sunglasses since he wanted to see everything as clearly as possible.

He was ignoring the rambling man and focusing on the gate that was slowly opening. He thought he could hear JD telling Mike to stop banging his head against the hood of the rental car before he dented it, but ignored it.

“Do you have plans?” McKinley was asking when Jensen’s attention went back to the man as they got to the gate. “Or someone waiting for you?”

Jensen paused to consider how to answer that when he heard a low growl come from Chris just as a voice spoke from beyond the gate. The sound of that voice had his breath catching and his legs almost buckling as he turned to stare at the 6’4” broad shouldered, well-built young man whose dark hair was still ridiculously long as it blew into hazel eyes that were locked on stunned green ones.

“Yeah, he does,” Jared spoke from where he was leaning against the front of the black SUV. “Me.”

Jensen had refused to let himself think that this would ever be possible. He’d talked himself into believing that despite the things he’d been told, Jared had moved on with his life and that it would be better if he stayed away from the kid.

Now as he took a shaky step out of the gate to take him off the prison ground, he could see that the boy he’d once kidnapped had indeed grown into a stunning young man, and it took all of Jensen’s strength not to lose it right there in front of everyone. “Jay.”

It was the first time in five years that he’d said that name out loud; his voice was low and shaky. He went to take another step, but before Jensen could even move, he heard his own name said with a broken sob and then like it had been that day, a lifetime ago, in that field in the Cascades, his arms were suddenly filled with a shaking, overly emotional Jared.

The second his arms closed automatically to bring Jared fully against him, the second he could feel the shaking arms that were wrapped tightly around him, the last five years suddenly didn’t seem to matter.

Jensen had who he wanted, the young man he’d never thought he’d even see again much less hold, in his arms and he didn’t care where they were or who was around them as he just held on. He felt the warm tears on his neck where Jared’s face was buried and figured he was shedding a few of his own by this point as it sank in more that not only was he free but also that Jared was there.

“Hey.” He finally managed to get his voice back and hoped it sounded close to normal. He kept one arm around Jared while he used his other hand to gently lift Jared’s face up, shaking fingers brushing over the tear stained cheek with a slow smile that grew the second he saw the first dimple appear as his smile was returned. “You found me.”

Jared had been battling tears since he’d pulled up in front of the prison. Actually he’d been battling them since he got the word that Jensen was being freed, and he knew there was no way in hell he was waiting anywhere but outside that damn place that had kept Jensen away from him for the last five years.

Despite all the things he’d practiced saying in his head, all the things he’d imagined would happen at this moment, all the times he’d promised himself to be calm and grown-up, the second he’d seen the man, heard Jensen use the nickname that Jared refused to allow anyone else to use, he was once again 21 and trying to figure out how to get his friend, the man he knew he’d love always, back.

Feeling Jensen hold him, being able to hold him back and hear his voice nearly broke what little control the 26-year-old still had. He buried a sob when Jensen spoke those words to him because Jared could still vividly recall saying them to him when he’d gotten separated from Jensen that one time in the woods. He recalled saying them, and he also remembered what Jensen had said back to him.

“I’ll always find you,” he replied softly, voice breaking as he turned his face into the hand on his face and longed for the courage to do one thing, but he held back. He wasn’t sure what had happened to Jensen during the past years, so Jared would give the man time to adjust and just hope he still felt for him what he had back then. “Jen, I...”

Jensen knew they weren’t alone. He knew this was hardly the right place for this, but before he let go, before he let JD and the others hustle him to wherever, there was one other thing he’d been aching for. One thing that he’d wanted since laying eyes on Jared this time.

His fingers moved back to curve over Jared’s neck, seeing the deepening eyes and hearing the soft words whispered that only he could hear, and he silently promised to keep every promise he’d ever made to this beautiful young man the moment they were alone. “Love you, Jay,” he whispered before bringing Jared’s face closer to kiss him fully, softly, like he’d wanted to for so long; he smiled as he felt the kiss returned.

Jared had dreamed of kissing Jensen again. He had other dreams too, but those could wait until he had Jensen alone. Right then as he broke the kiss with a reluctant sigh, he pulled back and lightly touched a pale bruised cheek as he smiled. “Ready to go home?” he asked, ignoring the sounds of fake choking and gagging behind them.

“Been ready, babe,” Jensen nodded and leaned into the arm that went around him to lead him away from the prison and to what he hoped was their future.

**TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll put a slight explicit warning on this one as we do finally get to some hot stuff.

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Eight**

“Is he okay? I mean really, really okay? Should he go to a hospital or…”

“Kid, Jensen’s fine…or as fine as he can be right now. Just settle down, take a breath, relax and please don’t hack into the Chinese Embassy again if you get bored,” JD Morgan replied sternly, watching as Jared’s long legs paced the space in the large but still cozy cabin. The young man restlessly strode around the main room of the cabin, climbing to the master bedroom on the second floor every few minutes as if needing to check that the sleeping man was still there.

It had been Jensen’s decision to not find a motel to crash in right away despite what his friends and even Jared had suggested. The newly freed man had wanted out of the state of Pennsylvania and argued that if he needed to sleep, he could sleep on a plane. He just wanted to _go_ even if he had no real destination in mind.

Because Jared was not letting go of Jensen, he asked Chad to drive his rented SUV so he could sit in the back with Jensen on their way back to the airport where a private jet was waiting. By the time they got there, Jensen’s body was giving into the exhaustion and strain and the man was practically dead on his feet; in fact, he was only barely aware of strong hands supporting, nearly carrying, him onto the plane.

It had been Jared who had decided where they should go, but it had taken 45 minutes of arguing to convince the men that his choice was best.

“He needs someplace quiet to adjust, to sleep, to get used to being himself again,” Jared had reasoned, fingers gentle as they carded back through dark blond hair that had grown out some during their time apart. “My place in Boston is too loud; I’m done with California now that I did what I had to there; and you guys probably want someplace where you can skulk about pretending to watch over us. Come on, it’s a good plan.”

Despite the grumblings from Kane and the others, JD had to admit that Jared’s choice of locations was ideal. It often scared the older man how well the young man fit in with his operatives now in comparison to the shy, uneasy boy he’d been five years earlier. Not that he liked some of the stunts the kid pulled or the trouble he could so easily get into.

The cabin was surrounded by trees with a clear view of the sky from the front yard and a large balcony on the second floor. It had its own private lake with a path that led to several other cabins and further down was the main lodge nestled deep in the Olympia Mountains.

Jared considered going back to that one cabin, the cabin where they’d last been together, but decided it was too small for a long stay; he wanted plenty of room so Mike and the others could stay around without being right on top of them. This place had everything they needed and more.

He was just worried because Jensen hadn’t really woken up in more than 12 hours and now that Jared had gotten a better look at how pale, how thin, and how bruised and battered Jensen was, he was even more worried that they should’ve taken him to a hospital first.

“Jensen probably hasn’t had a decent night of sleep or trusted his surroundings enough to close his eyes fully in five years,” Chris Kane remarked from where he sat at the kitchen table while Chad and Mike did a sweep outside to make certain this place was secure…not that they expected trouble, but old habits died hard. “We probably won’t see him awake fully for another day or so, so you should probably get some sleep yourself.”

Sleep? They seriously expected Jared to sleep right then? He’d been on his own, or mostly on his own, for five years. He’d put up with having the life he knew taken from him in addition to losing the man he’d come to love. He’d finished school with a several degrees, had a couple titles he could use if he wanted. He could do things in the fields he loved. He could also do some things he never really thought he ever would do, but right then as he paced the cabin’s first floor, all he could think about was the man sleeping upstairs. He certainly could not _sleep._

From the moment Jared had woken up with his chest on fire and his stomach twisted into knots, he’d wanted JD and his agency to undo the choices that had taken Jensen away, especially the one that put him in a cell and left Jared’s world in a state of flux.

When he eventually accepted that nothing was going to change what Jensen had done, he’d spent several weeks shut off from those who were supposed to be helping him adjust to this so-called new life. He’d been given a new name, a new life, as well as the ability to go back to college, which as Mike had said, had been what Jensen would want him to do.

Jared knew he’d been a pain in the ass during the early days of the change. He had wanted to see Jensen but couldn’t. At first he’d believed it was because Jensen didn’t want to see him, until finally Kane had explained in his gruff, no nonsense way that it would hurt Jensen as much as it would Jared if they saw one another. Not to mention it was much too soon to risk something like that.

He’d watched the trial on TV and when the verdict had been issued, Jared had gotten drunk, sobbed his guts out and then vowed to do whatever it took to get Jensen out of that place. Jared knew the men thought it was just booze and grief talking, but it wasn’t.

It had been watching Jensen stoically accept the verdict that made Jared decide to do everything he could possibly do to not only make Jensen proud, but also put him in a position to get him out of prison.

Jared had always been content with letting people think he was the standard rich kid looking to make his own way after a disagreement caused a rift between father and son. He’d been willing until go through college at a standard pace…until his world was changed, and he didn’t want to pretend anymore.

When he’d started overloading his course schedule and breezed through his final two years of college in less than a year, he’d merely shrugged at the stunned agents who had become part of his everyday life. When he proceeded to get Masters Degrees in the fields he enjoyed, it became amusing to watch Matt Cohen try to explain them to Chad. The first time he won an argument with an arrogant scientist at NASA, Jared felt awesome, but when he realized he could use his computer skills in a more creative way, he knew he’d found a way to help get Jensen back.

He knew that JD hadn’t liked letting him work on a few simple cases that required his computer knowledge, but Jared had simply said, “You’re stuck with me until you get Jen out of that box, so use me or don’t bitch when I get bored and hack someone’s database again.”

JD finally accepted the young man’s help in the area of computers, but Jared figured the older man would probably have a stroke if he ever learned that his agents had also taught Jared to shoot a gun and advanced his self-defense skills to the level of black belt. He was keeping that to himself but after the attack by Welling, it had been decided that Jared needed to know how to defend himself if he was ever jumped when he was alone.

“Kid? Jared? Did you hear me?” JD figured Jared was probably distracted and tired so he merely nudged his shoulder until he got those big eyes turned to him. “Do you want me to leave one of these guys here in case something comes up you can’t handle?” he asked, repeating his earlier question.

JD knew Jensen and knew the man might possibly wake up disoriented or even violent after such a long time without rest and with the injuries he’d sustained. He was concerned about leaving Jared alone because the last thing he wanted was Jared getting hurt by trying to comfort his friend if he didn’t understand the risks. That would be traumatic for both men. “Soldiers like Jensen tend to wake up rough and often violent,” he warned sternly. “If he wakes up and doesn’t know where he is or forgets who’s with him, you back off and call Kane.”

“Yes, sir,” Jared nodded, understanding the risks because he’d already been given this lecture as he flew from California to Pennsylvania. “Matt told me what to expect; I know I need to be careful until he gets used to being out and learns that no one’s gonna jump him.” He paused to look at the men, uneasy with the way Chad and Mike looked at one another and Chris’s jaw twitched. He knew these men had even more information about the way Jensen had been treated in prison than he’d been able to uncover in the hidden files, but he didn’t bother to ask because he wasn’t sure he could handle the details. “If he wakes up bad I’ll call you…though I’m sure Chad’ll have the rifle mike aimed this way, so you’ll hear anyway.”

“Dude, I seriously do not want to hear the sounds that will probably be coming out of this cabin before this vacation is over with.” Chad cringed, shaking his head firmly. “Nope, images of what I think might happen are bad enough without sound effects to add to it. I will be scarred for life.”

“Go away before I hack into your secret bank account again, Chad,” Jared snorted but still blushed.

JD ushered his men out but paused in the door before he left to look at the young man he’d watched grow and change over the past five years. “I won’t ask right now what the hell else you got up to this past week since I figure I’ll be hearing about it from Cohen soon enough…but just satisfy my curiosity about one thing…how were you on live TV in California and then in Pennsylvania less than three hours later?” he asked, narrowing his eyes sternly. “I better not find out you hijacked an F-16 or anything.”

“I can’t fly an F-16 yet, JD,” Jared scoffed without denying that would have been an option if he could. He shrugged. “It wasn’t live for you guys. It was live when I actually did it, but I figured the prison wouldn’t have the news on so no one there would have seen it. I bypassed their internal TV systems and ran the press thing mainly to irk Mike and Chris.” Despite his exhaustion, the young man couldn’t completely hide his smile.

“Jared, you have the potential to be a very dangerous person…I’m glad you’re on our side.” JD sighed and shook his head before clapping a hand on a strong shoulder. “Call if you need us…or if he does.”

Nodding, Jared closed the door and locked it with instincts born of having Chris lecture him endlessly for not always locking his doors. He’d learned to check the windows as well, which he did before grabbing a few of the snacks that the cabin had supplied and going upstairs.

“Jen,” he whispered softly. He didn’t want to wake the man; he just wanted to say his name, knowing he would be able to actually say it to him soon.

The cabin had two large bedrooms on the second floor: the master bedroom with a huge bath as well as a room that could be used for a second bedroom or an office. For the moment Jared was content with placing the snacks on a small table on the far side of the room, near the double glass doors that led to the balcony and sitting in a chair that he pulled close to the bed.

He considered playing on his laptop or lying down to grab some sleep, but Jared couldn’t bring himself to leave Jensen’s side. It had been so long since he’d seen him that he just wanted to sit and stare at the thin face. Jared’s heart hurt as he surveyed the new scars he could see on Jensen’s arms and chest as the man quietly slept in just a pair of sleep pants. It was easy for the younger man to see how thin Jensen had become, but he could also tell by the twitches he noticed moving through Jensen’s arms that his rest was far from peaceful.

Jared hated that even after the feds got Pellegrino behind bars, it took so damn long to find him guilty. He didn’t care how the man had died. He had his suspicions, but he’d never ask any of them. All he cared was that he could finally put that part of his past behind him. He hoped his mother would be at peace now that her killer was dead.

“I’m sorry, Jensen,” he murmured into the quiet room, cautiously moving a single finger closer to barely touch a clenching hand. He was desperate to touch Jensen but afraid to wake him when he so obviously needed the sleep. “I’m sorry you gave up so much just to protect me, to keep me safe. I’m sorry it took them so long to put Pellegrino away, and I’m sorry I couldn’t do more to get you back faster.

“I never forgot you or what you said.” Jared was unaware when tears began to slip down his cheeks. “I never stopped loving you, Jen. I never even hated you for shooting me with that blank…though I do owe you for the bruise it left me with and the inability to breathe deep for weeks.” He sniffled even as he chuckled, wiping his face with the back of his hand as he finally felt the tears falling. “I wanted to come see you or call you but they wouldn’t let me. I hope you don’t think I forgot you cause I didn’t. I’d never forget you. I kept this with me all the time, and when I felt like giving up or I’d get scared or lonely, I’d look at it. I’d remember the night you first kissed me.”

Jared slipped a photo out of his pocket and smiled at it before laying it on the bed beside Jensen’s hand. “I…I hope you don’t hate me for anything that happened. I’ll try to make it up to you…when you wake up.” He resisted the need to be close to Jensen, to curl up right next to him in the bed because he was scared of waking him up or accidently causing him any pain. Instead he drew his legs up into the chair with him and just watched Jensen sleep until his own eyes began to get heavy and he finally fell asleep.

Fuzzy memories, an aching body, a pounding head, and a twisting stomach were what finally brought Jensen Ackles out of a heavy sleep. Confused and disoriented at first, the former soldier tensed while trying to bring his thoughts back to full alertness.

It took him several long moments to remember recent events, to remember he was no longer in a small cell with a hard bed that barely fit him.

Jensen lay still to let his heart slow from the harsh dream that had finally forced him to wake. He hated those dreams worst of all because he hated the feelings that remained afterward, so he focused on calming down before opening his eyes to see where he was.

He recalled falling asleep on the plane with Jared’s hand held tightly in his. He thought he remembered Jared arguing with the others about where to go, but the rest was hit and miss as his brain and body had given in to the need to recharge.

Trust while sleeping had never been something Jensen was good at. He’d always had an awareness about his surroundings even when he slept so that he’d snap awake if anything or anyone got close. The only time that rule had ever failed him was the night he’d fallen asleep with Jared, when he’d been trying to get him warm.

Slowly now, as he let his body stretch to work the kinks and tightness out, he could feel a soft mattress under him and smell clean linen. He knew he must have slept sounder and longer than he had in several years.

Jensen groaned as his head moved, reminding him that it had been hit against a cement wall, but then his fingers touched something and he decided to risk opening his eyes. Blinking them several times to clear them, he took in the large open bedroom lit only by a low light across the room and the brilliant moon shining in the open doors that looked to lead outside. He realized what he’d touched was a photograph.

At first he thought it was the photo he’d kept with him but as he squinted at the photo, Jensen felt a lump form in his throat when he saw it was the picture of him and Jared that Jared had taken at the same time as his photo had been. Pushing up until he could finally sit up fully, he noticed that the photo looked as worn and wrinkled as his did, as if it had been held tightly or kept in a pocket.

Looking up when a soft sound caught his sharp ears, Jensen tracked the noise to the outside. It took him a few seconds to figure out that what he was hearing was someone muffling tears. He struggled out of bed and forced his still stiff and sore limbs to move.

Ignoring the chill in the air and the fact that he was only wearing a thin pair of sleep shorts, Jensen walked across the smooth hard wood floor to touch the open door before stepping outside.

His chest burned from the sudden cool air that he breathed in, but he shook that off and also ignored his sudden longing to just stare up into the clear star heavy sky. Almost holding his breath, he moved closer to the heavy padded mahogany chaise longue.

A piece of Jensen half thought he’d dreamed seeing, hearing, and feeling Jared earlier. He figured it would take him several months to begin to relax fully and trust that all of this was real. Right then he was fixated on the body of the young man curled on the chaise who was struggling to keep his tears silent.

The walls and locks around his heart, around his emotions, that had started to crack again fell completely as he moved to sit on the edge of the chair, shaking fingers reaching out to lightly touch long soft dark hair. “Jay.”

Jared had woken up with too many buried emotions churning inside. He’d learned to push most of them aside these last few years, but tonight everything seemed so raw that he couldn’t. He didn’t want to wake Jensen so he’d gone outside to sit, hoping he could calm down. When he realized he had to let the feelings out, he’d tried to keep them as quiet as possible.

Wide and wet eyes jerked up at the deep husky voice and he immediately went to move, to apologize for waking Jensen up only to stop at the touch to his face. “Jensen…”

There were so many words, so much Jensen wanted to say, to express. He had five years of things he longed to share, five years of missed moments to catch up on. But as he met those deep hazel eyes flecked with golds and blues in the moonlight, as he read the same emotions he felt shining back through them and felt shaking fingers move hesitantly, almost shyly up to touch his chest, the desire to talk was pushed aside for something more physical.

“I know we need to talk. I know there’re things we each probably need to say but…” Jensen shivered when those shy fingers got a little bolder, and he leaned in more, balancing himself with his free hand on the chaise over Jared’s shoulder. “…I really need to touch you right now, Jared.” He let his lips move over a tear stained cheek to kiss those away. “Unless…you need to wait or…shit, I never thought to ask…if there was someone else.”

“No!” Jared was quick to say, forgetting why he’d been upset the moment his body began to respond to Jensen’s touch and deep voice. He’s been leery about touching his friend so soon after his release from prison, but when he heard those words filled with quiet concern, his hand shot out to grab for the other man. “There’s no one. There’s never been anyone else, Jen. Just you and…God, I want to feel you touch me now so damn much.”

Jensen breathed a sigh of relief a second before he lifted his head to stare at Jared when something he said clicked. “Wait. When you say there’s never been anyone else…” He trailed off when he saw Jared drop his head as if embarrassed. “Jay…it’s been five years. You never…”

“I fell in love with you. You said you wished you could’ve been my first. I wanted you to be my first, my only lover, Jensen,” Jared replied softly, hoping the moonlight didn’t show how much he knew he was blushing; he was afraid to look his friend in the face as he made this admission. “Does…does it bother you that I’m still…I mean that I don’t know…I…mmhm.”

Hot lips claimed Jared’s in a heated kiss while Jensen’s palms cupped his face as he fought his body’s sudden burning need for more. He’d made himself accept the reality that in five years, the odds of Jared finding someone else were strong. To find out that not only hadn’t Jared found someone else, but also that he’d held off making love even casually lessened what control Jensen was struggling for.

“We’re not gonna do too much right this moment because I still want to make your first time special. I’m probably still too raw…too sore and tired to give you the attention I want to give you…but I can think of something we can do right now,” Jensen remarked between kisses that heated more as Jared’s hands got more curious and began to stroke over his chest. “Bedroom?”

The thought of making out on the chaise under the stars gave Jared a thrill, but he was willing to follow Jensen’s lead for the moment, so he just put that on his bucket list of things to do. He let himself be pulled to his feet, moaning as he was kissed again, deeper than before, and he desperately tried not to lose his focus.

“Where are we anyway?” Jensen asked between kisses, hands moving down to begin to slowly remove the too many layers of clothes that Jared had on. “And please tell me we’re alone.”

“Umm, cabin’s part of a resort in the Olympia National Forest in Washington.” Jared gasped at the feel of calloused fingertips sliding under his shirts to touch his skin. “It’s…pretty big cause…I…God, I’ve missed you touching me…I wasn’t sure if you’d want to be alone or what…and the guys nearly scared me with a list of dos and don’ts after you got out so I wanted privacy for us but…they’re somewhere around in case…in case…”

“In case I freaked out when I woke up or had nightmares.” Jensen finished for him, deciding he’d break the asshole who had scared Jared by telling him too much. Right then all he cared about was losing some of the layers of clothes and reassuring the younger man. “I won’t promise it’ll be easy…I might actually have some issues to deal with…maybe some nightmares…but I _can_ promise that no matter what happens, I will never hurt you.”

Jared helped to get his button down, then his sweatshirt off; he started to ask a question, but hot lips cut him off and he felt the gentle touch of a tongue licking over his lips as if seeking entrance until he let them part with a slow sigh.

“I know you have questions…hell, you wouldn’t be you without being curious…and, yeah, I know you’ve probably watched way too many prison movies that more than likely put the fear of God into you. If you really want to ask me now, I’ll try to answer the best as I can.” Jensen figured he might explode if he stopped what his brain was planning, but he also knew how Jared could get when his curiosity wasn’t satisfied, so he would answer his questions if necessary. Some part of him also wondered if he might be going too far too fast…maybe Jared was seeking to slow things down. After all, he’d barely been conscious long enough to even talk to Jared much. He knew he had to let Jared make the choice. “We can talk now or…I can keep that promise I made you five years ago.” He dropped his voice lower, huskier, as he let his lips begin to trail down Jared’s jaw and over his chest. “I seem to recall promising to give you a blowjob that you wouldn’t forget,” He licked over a hardening little nub and felt the shudder that ran through Jared. “So…?”

“Talking later is good,” Jared decided quickly, seeing a quirk of Jensen’s lips as he smiled seductively. A second later he felt a gentle push and fell backwards on the bed with a sudden, boyish laugh of surprise. “Ummm, shouldn’t my pants be off for what you’re planning or have I been watching the wrong porn?” he asked with a deep blush staining his cheeks.

Jared suddenly swallowed as he took in the change in Jensen’s eyes as they darkened when he knelt on the bed and reached up to undo the button on Jared’s jeans before fingering the zipper.

“No, I plan on taking them off, babe,” Jensen told him, lips finding Jared’s pulse point and sucking it gently. The older man smiled as he heard not so quiet sounds beginning to escape Jared’s lips as his fingers clutched into the cover on the bed. “I plan on taking them off of you very, very slowly and kissing every inch of your body as I do. In fact…”

Jensen could feel his own body responding in a way that it hadn’t in a long time. He could feel his cock hardening just from the soft moans this little bit of foreplay was bringing out in Jared. As he began to peel the jeans and boxer briefs down those long, long legs, letting his lips follow in their wake, Jensen felt his breath catch in his throat as he took in the long, well-built athletic body in front of him.

“You are so damn gorgeous, Jay,” he murmured, stunned that he’d once called this hard muscled, long-limbed body gangly and gawky. “How in the hell did you stay single for five years?” He knew that unless JD had set Jared up at a college in Alaska or some other out of the way place, he would have had all sorts of attention from both men and women. “You had to have had people looking at you all the time. Probably more than looking.”

“Oh, I had people asking me out or hitting on me plenty.” Jared arched up at a touch of hot lips sliding over his stomach. “I…I didn’t want to be hit on or play games since I knew who I wanted to be with. I told ‘em I had a boyfriend who I was waiting for.” He lifted his head to watch what Jensen was doing, shivering under the touch of hands and lips that skimmed his body as the man slid his way down until he was lying between Jared’s legs. “Most of ‘em got the message pretty quickly. The few that didn’t…well, Chris came in useful a few times.”

Jensen stilled as he looked up to watch Jared’s face. He realized he could still read his emotions and guessed Jared was downplaying what had happened in those situations; something fairly serious would have to happen for Chris to feel the need to step in. He made a mental note to ask his friend about those times, and then frowned when he suddenly noticed something else that he hadn’t seen before. “How’d you get this?” He brushed the pad of his thumb over a faint scar on the side of Jared’s face.

“Promise if I tell you that you won’t get mad right now and stop what you’re doing?” Jared countered, not willing to risk losing the feeling of what Jensen was doing. He waited until he got a hesitant nod and then sighed. “The day Welling tracked me to my apartment in Boston. He…he cut me a couple times before Chris and Chad got there…Jensen, you promised.”

“Technically I nodded which was not a binding agreement but…fine, I’ll ignore that for the moment.” Jensen would ignore it…at least until he got his hands on Chris to find out how Welling had even found Jared in the first damn place. He swallowed his anger over Jared being scared and hurt by that man and focused on giving him pleasure right then. “I hope he rots in whatever jail they have him in or I might have to do something myself,” he murmured, putting those thoughts aside to lean up and lightly kiss soft lips until he felt Jared once again relaxing. “Tell me if you don’t like this or it’s too much.”

“If I don’t like…oh my God.” Jared refused to admit he had very little knowledge in what might be about to happen. He knew all the basic concepts, but would never in a million years confess to Jensen that he still blushed like hell at the thought of being intimate with anyone. It wasn’t really dawning on him that he was naked while Jensen still had his sleep shorts on.

Most of what he knew about sex came from the porn he had watched…he decided not to mention that club Chad and Mike took him to on his 25th birthday. As he watched Jensen move back down, as he felt warm lips kiss and lick over his chest and down his stomach, he felt more turned on than he had by anything he had ever seen before…and when Jensen finally began to trail his kisses lower and his hands lovingly touched his legs, Jared lost the ability to think. In fact, Jared was pretty certain his brain melted at the first touch of Jensen’s lips on the base of his already hard and dripping cock.

His head dropped back with a moan of pleasure, hips arching at each touch until he felt soothing fingers rubbing circles on his thigh; somehow he knew it was to calm him down. “What…what do I do?” he managed between gasps and moans.

Jensen knew he’d probably come just from the sounds Jared was making, and he didn’t even mind that. He knew he wouldn’t make love to the young man that night because he wanted to wait until they were both healthy and rested and had the time to truly enjoy the experience. This night he just wanted to begin to explore and to keep a promise that was five years overdue.

“You just lay here and hopefully enjoy this,” he replied with a warm smile; it was his first real smile in more years than Jensen cared to consider.

Holding wide and dark eyes with his, Jensen slowly stroked Jared a few times to let him get used to a touch other than his own. Then he took a slow deep breath before slipping the head past his lips and wasn’t sure who groaned more, him or Jared.

Blowjobs weren’t his favorite thing to do, but as Jensen tasted the flavor touching his tongue right then, he thought he could learn to like it more. He took his time slipping up and down the growing cock, taking as much as he could as deep as he could before pulling nearly all the way off, just keeping the head held tight between his lips.

Jensen’s eyes lifted to be sure Jared was enjoying the experience. He smiled inwardly when he watched that boyish face flushed with pleasure, lips parted to let every deep moan and soft sigh escape while long lashes fluttered closed as Jared’s body experienced the pleasure and need coursing through his body.

With skilled fingers, he stroked the part of the cock not in his mouth before slipping those fingers down between long, shaky legs to gently massage his balls that already felt full and tight. He could tell this wouldn’t take much longer for either of them as he felt his own body nearing the edge of a very tight rope.

“Jen…Jen, please…I…God…” Jared gasped, fingers digging into the covers while his other hand moved down to try to grasp onto short hair that was just long enough for him to find purchase, unaware of his actions until a low moan from Jensen caught his attention. “I…need…gonna…Jen, I’m gonna…” He broke off on a gasp when brilliant green eyes lifted to look at him and Jared caught a small curve of Jensen’s lips as he nodded that it was okay.

This wasn’t the first time he’d climaxed; after all, Jared had learned long ago how to bring himself off, but he couldn’t recall a time that he had ever come this hard as he felt his balls tighten up and completely lost it with a shout of pleasure. “Jensen!”

Jensen had felt the sudden tension hit Jared, so he knew what to expect. He could feel his own balls tightening as he sought friction on the bed. He felt Jared jerk, heard his name shouted, and then lost himself in his own orgasm that came the moment he felt hot come spilling into his mouth.

Groaning, Jensen let his fingers stroke above where his mouth was still locked and moving, helping to milk the younger man’s orgasm for all it was worth as he tried to concentrate on both Jared and working his own body down from the climax that left him stunned and shaking at the force of it.

When Jensen finally felt Jared’s body go lax, heard his whimper as now his cock was overly sensitive to touch, he gently pulled off with a wet pop. “Jay?” His voice sounded raw and rough when he spoke, and he was concerned until he saw a smile forming on a sleepy face. “Didja like that, babe?”

“Can we do that again?” Jared felt boneless and couldn’t help but wonder what actual sex would be like if he came this hard, felt this relaxed, from just a blowjob.

“Oh, yeah. We can do that again,” Jensen smiled, easing off the bed. “I’m just going to change out of these real quick, Jay. Then I’ll come back and sleep with you,” he was quick to reassure Jared when he reached for him.

Jared yawned, forcing his eyes to stay open to watch Jensen change into new sleep pants after wiping off in the bathroom. “Shower?” he asked, blinking when he felt the bed dip and a hard warm body slid in beside him. He felt a bit confused when, in the space of an eye blink, he found himself dressed in loose sweatpants.

“Tomorrow…or whenever we wake up, we’ll shower,” Jensen told him. He was tired but feeling more relaxed than he had even before he fell asleep the first time. He carded his fingers back through Jared’s hair and welcomed the younger man into his arms with a soft kiss that he kept slow and tender. “I love you, Jared,” he murmured, content and at peace; for the moment, as he felt Jared snuggle closer, he could forget the last five years and felt actual relief that something else hadn’t seemed to change with Jared…when he was sleepy, he was all arms and legs.

“Love you too, Jen.” Jared’s eyes were heavy but he still fought sleep, half afraid this would all be a dream when he woke up. “Don’t…don’t leave me?”

“Shouldn’t I be saying that to you?” Jensen smoothed his fingers over Jared’s face much like he had that last day in the cabin. “I hear you’ve got a lot of degrees and initials to work with now. How come you’re not out discovering planets or becoming rich and famous in Silicone Valley?”

“I think NASA banned me from playing with their toys after I yelled at a couple of their so-called experts…and I don’t want to be rich and famous. I just want to be with you.” Jared laid his head over Jensen’s heart, fingers tracing a new scar that reminded him of just how hard the time apart had been for his friend. “Jen?”

“I’ll tell you later.” Jensen knew the questions would come, and he’d answer Jared honestly since he refused to ever lie to him again, but he just needed the time to settle first, to accept that this was real and not a dream like he’d had so often. “Wanna tell me why you were outside crying when I woke up?”

Jared moved even closer, slipping one hand into Jensen’s to hold on; he had nearly forgotten what had upset him. “I was worried about you sleeping so long, and then I kept thinking that maybe you’d be upset with me for whatever might have happened to you in there, and then I was thinking that maybe you wouldn’t want me and…”

“I never stopped wanting you, Jared. I never stopped dreaming about you or worrying that you were alright,” Jensen told him seriously, fingers constantly moving in a slow soothing motion through dark hair that was longer than it had been but just as soft and unruly. “I probably will be sleeping a lot until my body heals…and catches up on all the sleep it lost, but I’m hoping I can convince you to spend at least some of that time in bed with me. I also don’t blame you for anything that happened to me. I knew the risks and I took them. I don’t want you to worry about that now. I’m out, I’m with you, and if you’re really sure then I plan to stay with you.”

“You’re who I want.” Jared yawned again, smiling sleepily at the feel of soft kisses touching his heavy lids. “Just want it to be us though. Can we stay here awhile, Jensen?”

Jensen nodded, letting his body relax again as he felt Jared falling asleep in his arms. “We can do whatever you want, Jay,” he told his sleepy boyfriend. He watched as sleep came over Jared and kissed the top of his head softly. “Thank you,” he whispered, knowing that in so many ways it had been he who’d been rescued that night he’d kidnapped an innocent boy because Jensen knew he’d been very close to falling over the edge and becoming someone he fought against.

It had been Jared’s innocence, his trust in him finally that had reminded Jensen of who he was and what he was supposed to be doing. Now as he lay still in the quiet bedroom with Jared in his arms, he vowed that nothing would ever take him away again, even if he didn’t know what the next few weeks would bring for either of them.

As it turned out, the next week or so wasn’t easy on either man. Jensen slowly adjusted to life outside of prison, but he was still tense at times and jumped if he was approached from behind or didn’t hear the person approach. Jared had learned quickly to always make sure Jensen knew where he was and to never touch him if he had a nightmare.

The worst time was when Jensen snapped awake and found himself with his hand on Jared’s throat. He hated himself as he saw fear in those big eyes again, and he had refused to sleep in the same bed for nearly a week. Finally Jared proved that he could be stubborn as well as resourceful in getting what he wanted. And what he wanted was for Jensen to stop feeling guilty for a few bruises and also to share some of the pain he was still feeling. So the younger man had simply stopped going to bed. He would fall asleep on the couch or at the small table in the kitchen area, but he absolutely refused to climb into the bed until Jensen finally caved and joined him there muttering under his breath about stubborn, manipulative, pain-in-the-butts.

If anyone noticed that Jensen wasn’t yet fully at ease with his former teammates when they dropped in at the cabin daily, that he could only relax totally with Jared, no one commented on it. Nor did anyone comment when the former Army Ranger would withdraw into himself for hours at a time or had bad reactions to certain sounds or words.

Jared had been through enough therapy during his own childhood to know his friend was working through some PTSD from the five years in prison, but he didn’t push for Jensen to talk about that time. He left him alone when he felt he needed the solitude and growled if one of the others tried to push too hard.

He knew that when Jensen was ready, he’d talk and he also knew when he was ready to be around people, he’d start socializing more. Jensen had been spending a lot of time in the extra room on the second floor or walking around the private lake.

At first, it worried Jared when Jensen went out into the woods alone because a small part of the boy he’d once been still feared thick woods. He knew that was why Jensen never asked him to go walk there with him like he sometimes would if he was just going to the dock.

JD didn’t seem alarmed by Jensen’s behavior. He’d been in this line of work a long time and was actually impressed that the young man was handling everything as well as he was. He told the rest of his men when he had to leave to return to Washington, DC to just take things as they came and not to push. He said that Jensen would make the way out of whatever shell he was in when he felt ready.

It had been on an especially crisp and chilly day, a day they’d just stayed in to sit by the fire that Jensen finally began to talk about his time behind bars. Jared had been playing on his laptop, harmlessly hacking into a few sites that he didn’t think would have Chris or the others bitching at him too loudly. After all, he was basically only taking back what should have been his in the first place and tipping the IRS off about a few holdings his aunt had that she and her husband weren’t declaring. When Jensen began to talk about the first few attacks, the hard time that not even JD knew about, he stopped what he was doing, closed the laptop, and just listened.

When Jensen stood up to pace, Jared made himself stay still even though he longed to go and put his arms around him, to hold him. He made a note to give that warden’s prison computer one hell of a virus for not watching Jensen better and for allowing him to be hurt like he'd been.

“Jen…” He only spoke when it was clear by the hard shudders working through still too thin shoulders that Jensen needed to hear him. Jared crossed the space between them to wrap his arms around Jensen and just held on tightly. “You’re free of that place. You have me, and when you’re ready to move on, to do something, anything, then I’ll be with you. Just let it go. Those days are gone. Just let it go.”

He wished it could just be the two of them, but Jared knew Jensen would insist that the others stay around until he was certain that any threat to Jared was over, so he dealt with nosy agents as best as he could and only hacked a few top secret databases if they annoyed him too much.

The day Chris was in his face shouting about someone hacking the French Ministry of Defense was the first time that any of them could see a definite sign of Jensen recovering… of slowly becoming the man he’d once been.

“I did not hack them!” Jared yelled, shoving hard against the hands that had grabbed his shirt but it wasn’t easy to budge the ex-Marine when he was angry. “I’ve been hacking my aunt’s bank to get back the money she stole from me and tipping the IRS off about her and messing with a jackass warden in Pennsylvania but I did not hack anyone in France. Now let go!”

“No one can hack like you do, kid!” Chris wasn’t sure whether he believed the kid or not, but the best way to find out was to piss Jared off since his poker face only dropped if he got really angry. “Hacking the bad guys is one thing, but the last time I looked, we were still friends with France! Now back the hell…what the goddamn…son of a bitch! Jensen!”

In the blink of an eye, and before Chad could even shout a warning, Jensen had bolted down the stairs from the second floor where he’d been taking a shower and shaving. He slammed into his former teammate with enough force to shove Chris away from a surprised Jared, stepping in front of him with a pistol held steady in his fist.

“Don’t touch him, Kane,” he growled lowly, green eyes glittering with a barely repressed rage as he stepped protectively in front of Jared. “Don’t you ever touch him. I don’t care what he does. If you or any of them put your hands on Jared, I will end you.”

“Jen, it’s okay.” Jared started to reach for a tight shoulder only to stop at a head shake from Chad.

The cabin was still with tension as the two men stared at one another. Slowly Chris rolled to his feet but made no move to respond to the threat or the gun aimed at him as he held Jensen’s gaze as if looking for something he obviously saw when he finally nodded.

“Welcome back, Captain,” he murmured, sliding his gaze to Jared before looking back to Jensen with a slow smirk. “This might be a good time for someone to tell you the kid could’ve knocked me on my ass if he really felt threatened. He’s done it before.”

“I put you down twice and both times you deserved it,” Jared muttered in defense, feeling the heat of green eyes locking on him. Suddenly he felt something stir in his belly as those eyes shifted from hard and protective to something more…intense. “Umm, guys…”

“Get out, Chris.” Jensen’s voice was low as he lowered the gun to slip the safety back on, but he never took his eyes off of Jared. “Take Chad with you and tell Mike to lose the rifle mike he has aimed on this place cause I seriously don’t think you guys will want to hear the sounds Jay here can make.”

As Chris’s eyebrows lifted, Chad began to gag and tugged the other man toward the door. “No, no, nope, do not want anything to do with even the image of that,” he declared firmly. “Mike and I took the kid to a strip club when he turned 25 and even that gave me disturbing images.”

“What the fuck do you mean you and Rosenbaum took Jared to a strip club?” Chris demanded loudly, seeing that Jensen’s body language didn’t reflect danger and took that as their cue to get out before he needed to scrub his eyes with bleach. “I told you not to be a bad influence on him!”

“He wasn’t interested in the strippers, and he broke the bouncers hand when the guy came onto him!” Chad tossed back, deciding he might be talking too much and would probably pay for it later when Jensen’s attention was on something other than Jared. “He got drunk and gave very impressive descriptions about what he wished Jensen would do with him. I had nightmares for weeks!”

Jensen no longer cared about the others. His focus was locked on Jared, who held his gaze with deep eyes that only looked a little frightened.

“Strip club?” he asked with a raised brow, placing the gun on the table before taking a step closer. “Broke a guy’s hand? Remind me to ask just what else those morons taught you while I was gone, Jay.”

“Nothing Mr. Morgan or you will like probably,” Jared replied, voice soft but steady as he held Jensen’s gaze and wondered if he should be a little scared as he watched those green eyes darken slightly. He recognized the look of need in them and could feel his heart rate pick up as he also felt his cock stir to life.

There had been that amazing blowjob, lots of kissing and fooling around, but they hadn’t gone any farther. Now Jared could feel the sexual tension radiating between them and longed for the skills to know what he should say or do. “Chris wouldn’t have hurt me, Jen.”

“Yeah, I know that,” Jensen replied, fingers curling in the front of Jared’s sweatshirt. “Sue me. I’m protective.” He caught his breath as he saw Jared’s tongue slip out to lick over his lips nervously. “Scared, baby?”

“A little,” Jared admitted honestly. “But I want you, Jen.” He gasped as he was tugged forward suddenly and hot lips claimed his mouth in a hard, searing kiss.

“Good,” Jensen growled against his lips.

**TBC**

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 9 will be coming soon. Promise.


	9. Chapter 9

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Chapter Nine**

“Good,” Jensen growled against his lips, fingers tightening in the shirt to pull Jared forward. “Cause I want you too.”

It wasn’t planned. Jensen had been trying to avoid the burning need to throw Jared on a bed or any other available surface for more than a week because he still felt raw and wasn’t sure he could give the young man the gentleness he felt he needed for this moment. Even as he was pulling Jared into his arms to kiss him firmly, Jensen knew this was probably a huge mistake but there was no stopping now.

“I can’t promise to be slow or gentle this time, Jared.” He groaned low in his throat at the feel of trembling fingers roaming his bare chest. “I’ll try my best not to hurt you, but I can’t tell you it won’t hurt this first time. If you’re seriously not ready for this then I need you to take a walk for an hour or so and let me get myself under control.”

“I’m ready…I want you, Jensen.” Jared’s body was heating and the nerves that were there were being replaced by a craving like he’d never felt before. “I’ve wanted you since that one night. I never stopped wanting you. I’m not the 21-year-old I was when we met. Just because I’ve never actually had sex doesn’t mean I’m fragile.” He felt heated eyes staring at him and shivered from the lust he saw on Jensen’s face, never honestly thinking that anyone would ever look at him that way. “I want to feel you touch me, Jen. I want to feel you inside me, and I want to be able to feel you tomorrow.”

Any chance of control was lost with that comment and Jensen caught a handful of hair to pull Jared’s head back as he raked his teeth over the exposed line of neck and felt him shudder at the touch. “Bedroom before I see how sturdy that kitchen table really is,” he growled, voice low and pure sex.

The journey from living room to bedroom took more time than normal since it involved hot kisses, roaming hands, and almost falling down the stairs when Jared decided he wanted out of his jeans right then and there.

“If you break any bones in the name of sex, I think it’s safe to say Kane will break my neck,” Jensen chuckled, wanting this as badly as Jared but trying to rein in his need for fast and hard. As he pulled the sweatshirt off over Jared’s head and watched that unruly hair fall into huge dark eyes, he reminded himself that this was Jared’s first time, not just with him, but with sex in general. “Gotta slow down a little, Jay.”

“Nope,” Jared refused, fingers shaking as he argued with his jeans until steadier ones pushed his away. “I want this now, and if you slow down then you’ll think too much and if you think too much, you might think you don’t want this yet, or get all worried that you might hurt me and mmhm…” He moaned into the kiss that cut off his rambling words.

“I _am_ worried about hurting you if we go too fast.” Jensen forced himself to take a deep breath. “I need to find the ability to focus on opening you enough, so this won’t hurt too badly but…” Jensen took one of Jared’s hands and slid it down his body so it pressed against where his erection could already be felt through his jeans. “I’m not sure anything could stop me right now…but I _will_ stop if you say you need to. I wanted slow and romantic for your first time, Jared, but I’ll have to give you that some other time. This time? I just want to see your face as we make love. I want to hear you when you come with me inside.”

Jared nodded blindly, body on fire by this point as he let Jensen remove his jeans and briefs with a smooth move that left him naked and suddenly, for the first time, very aware of his own body. He felt a blush forming as Jensen took a step back to rake his eyes over the tall, lean, hard body. “I…uh…”

“Gorgeous,” Jensen murmured, catching Jared’s lips in a heated kiss that he held while lowering them both to the bed; his tongue licked over soft lips until he felt them part on a sigh that was Jared’s way of giving him permission to enter his mouth to explore and claim. “You were drop dead gorgeous five years ago,” he murmured between kisses, tongue exploring Jared’s mouth slowly, wanting to take his time despite the burning need. “Now…now you honestly take my breath away. And I love that I can make you blush still.”

“You just say that stuff to me because you know I’ll blush.” Jared still didn’t see himself the way Jensen or others did, so he was letting his lashes hide his eyes when a gentle hand cupped his jaw to keep him from turning his face away.

Jensen had rolled to his side so he was lying beside Jared and could kiss and touch him more easily. Now he turned that wide-open face to him and gave it a gentle kiss. “No, I say it because it’s true, Jay,” he told him, voice deep with emotions that came from his heart; something only this young man had been able to bring out in him. “You are a very beautiful young man, inside and out, and I am so damn lucky that you saved me.”

“Isn’t that the other way around?” Jared was trying to hold still and also trying not to come just from feeling Jensen’s fingers gliding over his skin while his mouth alternated between gentle kissing and hot sucking that was bound to leave marks behind that Jared would just adore showing off. “You saved me.”

Jensen had managed to lose his own jeans and boxer briefs sometime since getting them on the bed. Now it was a matter of not coming the moment he really touched Jared. He started kissing his way down the long body, paying special attention to the places that he’d learned the younger man was especially sensitive.

“Before I took that job, I was very close to forgetting who I was, Jared,” he began, kissing and licking over sensitive nipples that he sucked on until Jared was arching up under him. “It was slowly becoming easier to do the things I was ordered to without regret or guilt…until I took the job that brought me to you. You had me doubting from the first damn second I saw you, and I never stopped. By the time I realized I’d fallen in love with you, I already knew that if I hadn’t met you, if I hadn’t realized how deep into my cover I’d let myself get, I might have become someone like Welling, and that was never who I wanted to be. So yeah, _you_ saved _me_.” He slid his tongue down rock hard abs and smiled against warm skin at the soft noises that were beginning to get louder. Smiling, he dipped his tongue into Jared’s belly button, and he nearly jumped at the touch. “So damn sensitive, babe.”

“Jen…I…God, it’s so hard to…to think when you’re doing that.” Jared moaned at the feelings coursing through him just from this. “I love you…but if you don’t actually do something…that results in sex soon…I will hack into the Department of Defense again or…or NASA and change the planet names to the Seven Dwarves.” His threat was interrupted by a broken laugh, as his boyfriend happened to find another spot on his body that made him squirm. “I did…did that before.”

“We’ve got to find you a job or a hobby before you get yourself arrested,” Jensen smirked and gave the younger man a hot kiss before getting to his knees to give a playful slap to Jared’s hip. “Roll over.”

Jared did so quickly while trying to recall what had happened in the porn he’d seen. He shuddered when he felt Jensen’s hands rubbing over his back and shoulders, lips kissing down his spine.

“Just relax, Jay.” Jensen’s voice was tight. It had been a long time since he’d had sex and enjoyed it, so his body was in overdrive, desperate to be inside Jared. If it had been anyone else, he might not have been so determined to take care of his partner so the initial penetration didn’t hurt him, but since this was Jared, since this was the man he loved, he knew he had to take the extra time. “Gonna make this good.”

“Just wanna feel you,” Jared gasped, automatically grinding his hips and his aching cock into the mattress for some relief only to be tugged to his knees with a near whine of frustration. “Not playin’ fair, Jen.”

“You are not coming like that, kiddo,” Jensen remarked, reaching over to grab a few things out of the stand by the bed. “In fact, you aren’t coming until I’m inside you and I say you can.” He leaned up to lick around the shell of Jared’s ear. “Think you can do that, babe? Think you can keep from coming until I say you can or do you need some help?”

“No…I…I can do it.” Jared actually wasn’t at all sure he could, but he’d try his best. He turned his face to meet the kiss that Jensen offered. “I…I’m nervous,” he admitted.

Jensen nodded, smiling as he kissed Jared deeply. “So am I…but I’ll make it good for both of us, Jay,” he promised, determined to do that. He might not be able to give Jared the romantic first time he’d planned, and this might not take long for either of them, but he would definitely make sure it was pleasurable.

After making certain Jared was comfortable, Jensen held the bottle of lube in his hand to warm it up before squirting some over the crease of Jared’s ass and then a single finger. “This might feel weird at first, but just try to relax for me,” he urged, carefully running his finger along the crease to allow Jared time to adjust to the feeling.

He felt the tension rippling through Jared as he gently circled the tip of his finger a few times before finding the tight puckered entrance that he was searching for. “Oh my…fuck,” he breathed as he felt how tight Jared was…he had to seriously push back his body’s need to take and claim. “You are so tight.”

Jared blushed, gasping at the feel of a calloused fingertip barely brushing over his ass before the pressure increased slightly. He bit back a gasp that wasn’t pain but also wasn’t pleasure yet. He’d had a few sex toys up there a few times, but those didn’t feel anything like Jensen’s fingertip did.

He started to push back, to help get the finger inside more, but a firm hand pressed on his shoulder to urge him to stay still. “Jen?” He glanced back to see that Jensen’s green eyes were mostly pupil with only a faint ring of green as desire clouded them. He also noticed an intense look of concentration on the rugged face.

“Don’t move yet, babe,” Jensen’s voice was strained, lower than usual as he tried to keep his touch slow, but the moment that tight hole clenched around his fingertip the former soldier nearly lost it. “You’re too tight. If you move right now, it might hurt you. Just…just stay still for me.”

“I wanna feel you, Jen.” Jared’s body was on fire already, and the gentle touch that just seemed to be circling his hole instead of going deeper was only adding fuel to it. “Not a girl. Just get in or…do something…”

“Funny, you didn’t strike me as the type of bottom who’d be so damn bossy.” Jensen tried to keep the laugh out of his voice. Despite how hard he was and how much he wanted to do just what Jared was urging him to do, he refused to hurt him by just shoving his cock into a tight ass. “Trust me, Jay. You’ll thank me for torturing both of us later.” He stretched up to lightly kiss the base of Jared’s neck while whispering in his ear, “I will not hurt you. Not even for the sake of sex.”

Jared shuddered but decided he would try to be patient. He wouldn’t, however, try to be quiet. There was no way he would last if he had to be quiet. Between the feel of Jensen’s finger slowly, more slowly than Jared ever expected, opening him and the hot lips and the occasional teasing touch of teeth working over his back, his shoulders, and down to the base of his spine, Jared felt like his entire body was one huge exposed nerve

“Fuck!” he yelped at the feel of hot lips and teeth trailing over his back just as the finger slipped deeper inside; Jared wasn’t sure exactly what happened, but he could’ve sworn something was lit inside him. “Jensen?”

“And there’s the influence of Chad Michael Murray on you,” Jensen chuckled, voice like sex coated honey by this point as he closed his eyes to calm down. Opening Jared to take him without too much pain was going to be the death of him.

He’d felt that last ring of muscle finally relax, and as his finger slipped in fully, it seemed to go right to the spot that Jensen had wanted to find. He figured that Jared had never had his prostate touched, and he was looking forward to his reaction. “How’d that feel, Jay?” he asked, relaxing as he caught the pure ecstasy on Jared’s face as he lightly brushed over that spot again.

As Jared tried to convince his body to relax fully again and adjust to the odd feeling of fingers stretching him, he continued moaning words even though he wasn’t really aware of what he was saying. He heard Jensen talking to him but couldn’t comprehend those words either as he was losing himself in the feelings surging through him.

Jared was also unaware of how his hips had started pushing back just slightly or how his cock, now bobbing against his stomach, had started to drip as he got more and more turned on from just Jensen’s fingers. He’d lost track of how many fingers were inside him now, but he knew that he’d come dangerously close to climaxing when two fingers had begun to scissor inside him while also touching that spot that made sparks dance behind his eyes.

“Jen, please,” he gasped, body shaking from need and want. “Need…need to feel you so much. How…how much longer? Need to…not sure how much longer I can…oh my God!” he panted, fingers digging desperately into the crumpled sheets.

“Just one more second, babe.” Jensen thought Jared still felt tight even after three fingers were able to move pretty freely inside him but he also knew that neither of them was going to make it much longer. He just hoped that it would be enough. “Hang on.”

Jared was glad his face was buried in a pillow since he was sure he’d just made a face at that thought of waiting even one more minute. He stiffened when he heard the sound of something ripping and shifted, trying to reach back blindly. “Jen, no. Don’t want you to use that.” He wanted to feel Jensen come, so when he heard the sound of what he knew was a condom, he tried to catch his arm. “You don’t have…”

“Yeah, this time I do.” Jensen kept one hand moving lightly along Jared’s bare hip, but he eased up enough to look into wide and dark eyes and give a tight smile. “I told you about some of the things that happened to me inside, Jared, but I…I might’ve left out a few things because I didn’t want to upset you…” He watched the confusion flicker as Jared’s forehead creased before realization clicked, and he leaned closer to press a soft kiss to his temple. “One of the hazards of prison life. Most of the time I managed to avoid those situations, but twice I just couldn’t. So until I get tested, which I should’ve done already, I won’t have sex with you without a condom. It’s one of the reasons that I’ve held off doing this, but today…today just something flipped inside me and I couldn’t hold off anymore.

“If this…if you want to wait until I have the tests…to be sure I’m clean I’ll…” The well intentioned offer was cut short when suddenly Jensen was reminded of just how quick and agile Jared could be.

“I will do something very drastic and very illegal if you even think of not putting that dick in my ass right damn now, Jensen Ackles,” Jared remarked firmly, shifting so that he could reach for Jensen’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “Jen, I love you. I…I was hoping that didn’t happen to you, but I kinda could read between the lines on a few of those reports. Yeah, it upsets me cause I hate that you were even in that damn place because of me, but I don’t want to stop. Do…you?” he asked in a softer voice, as if unsure. “I mean, if this is too soon then we can…”

“No, I don’t want to stop. And I love you, too.” Jensen rolled the condom on while soothing the sudden tense shoulder with his lips. “Relax. It might hurt, but I’ll move slowly until you adjust.”

Jared once again blushed. He knew the general mechanics of what was going to happen, but he just couldn’t quite figure how Jensen’s cock, which was impressive, was going to fit in the hole back there.

Willing himself to take a few deep breaths to settle his sudden nerves, Jared closed his eyes when he felt the head of Jensen’s cock brush over his hole and began to slowly push inside.

Despite the hours…and Jared was certain it had been hours…of stretching to prepare him for this, there were a few brief moments when the pressure of the long, thick cock easing into his tight channel bordered on too much pain. But whenever the younger man was certain it was too much, it seemed like Jensen would pause, allowing him to adjust, always kissing or touching him to soothe him until he relaxed again.

“Shh, just a bit more, Jay. You’re doing so good for me.” Jensen was positive he was going to implode soon but was resisting the need to push in faster. He could see the strain on Jared’s face whenever the sensation became too much and would force himself to stop until young man relaxed again.

Soon Jared was gasping and starting to push back. The pain was slowly turning to pleasure, and he ached to have Jensen’s cock hitting that spot that made him see stars earlier. “Jen…move,” he groaned. “Need you to move.”

Jensen needed to move, but he held off a moment longer. Then he eased out a little and gave a solid forward roll of his hips; he wasn’t sure which of them made more noise as they came flush. “Damn, damn, damn,” he whispered to himself, struggling not to come as Jared’s body seemed to come alive at the barest brush against his prostate. “Jay…I don’t think I’m gonna last long this time,” he groaned, voice ragged from the stress of taking it as slowly as he had, but again he held still to give Jared the chance to move, to experiment even if it drove Jensen almost insane with need.

“Me neither…we…we can do this again, right?” Jared asked breathlessly, leaning back when Jensen’s arm slipped around his chest to pull him up to his knees, his back pressed against Jensen’s chest.

“Definitely,” Jensen murmured, lips moving along Jared’s neck, up to his ear. “In fact, I hope you don’t plan on leaving this bed the rest of the day.” He kissed his jaw. “Or night.” He placed another kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Maybe not even tomorrow. And the second I do get tested and it comes back clean, I plan on making love with you for at least three days straight to make up for the last five years.”

Jared shuddered, turning his face to meet the hot deep kiss that took his breath away, and he welcomed Jensen’s tongue as they found a rhythm that suited both men. “That works for me,” he murmured, eyes nearly all pupil by this point as he met each thrust with a counter move that kept the pressure on his prostate. “Jen…I can’t…I need to come soon,” he groaned, head falling back to allow hot lips to begin to kiss his neck deeply. “Please.”

Jensen smiled against Jared’s skin where he was leaving an impressive array of marks. He could feel his own body getting close to the edge and could tell by Jared’s eyes and voice that the kid was really straining for control. “Love you so much, Jay,” he whispered, slipping his free hand down while seeing the muscles straining in Jared’s arms as he supported himself on his arms against the headboard. “So proud of you for holding off this long. You can come whenever you want to, babe.”

He closed his hand loosely over the red engorged and dripping cock and began to stroke it from base to tip with a skilled hand, loving the soft sounds that came from Jared. Jensen also realized the kid had impressive vocabulary of words he knew he’d picked up from Kane and the others as well.

Jensen quickened his stroke when he felt the inner muscles clenching around his cock get tighter and knew Jared was just on the cusp of orgasm. “Come, Jay,” he ordered, lips against Jared’s ear to lick over the shell and then shuddered as he only had a second to prepare.

“Jensen! Oh my God!” Jared knew he was close, but he hadn’t been expecting the force of the orgasm that rocked him. He shook as Jensen’s hand and hips never stopped moving as white strips of come coated the hand on his cock and his stomach. “Jen…”

“I’ve got you, Jay.” Jensen gave one final roll of his hips before feeling those tight muscles clamp down hard around him and coming with a shout of his own. Then it was a matter of supporting them both through the silent moments of intense pleasure, making sure to help Jared get as much from this moment as he could. Suddenly he felt Jared shudder and caught a quick glance of white as hazel eyes rolled back. He quickly had to take Jared’s full weight as the rush of climax overwhelmed. “I’ve got you.”

Normally supporting Jared wouldn’t have been a problem, but Jensen hadn’t regained his full strength yet, so he felt the muscles in his upper thighs start to burn. As his own orgasm began to wind down, he pressed gentle kisses to the skin he could reach and only once he was certain he could move without collapsing, did Jensen shift them more to one side of the large king-size to gently ease them down.

Jensen hadn’t been expecting to come as hard as he had. He knew it had been a long time, blowjobs not withstanding, but he actually couldn’t think of a time that he’d come as hard as he just did. His body was still adjusting, getting strength back, so he was close to crashing himself, but he knew there were things to do first.

He eased out carefully, figuring that Jared would probably be sore and was quick to murmur quiet assurances to the sleepy protest at the loss Jared felt. “Shh, just gotta clean up a bit. Then we’ll sleep,” he assured him, removing the condom, grabbing a warm cloth from the bathroom to wipe them both clean of sweat and come.

After that was done, Jensen grabbed a pair of sweats to slip into. He was trying to get a sleepy and very clingy Jared into a pair when large hazel eyes blinked back open as his sexed out brain came back online.

“Hey, you back with me now?” Jensen smiled, tossing the rag toward the bathroom and slipping back into bed; he immediately had his arms full of warm and relaxed Jared. “Okay?”

“Hmmm,” Jared murmured, sleepy and nearly boneless; he was struggling to keep his eyes open to look at the man with him with a dimpled smile. “Awesome,” he yawned, leaning into the touch of fingers carding through his hair and over his face. “Was it…okay for you?”

Lips curving into a softer smile, Jensen lifted the face in his hand to bring sleepy eyes up to meet his. “Better than awesome for me, Jay,” he murmured, offering a gentler kiss that held little heat but a lot of promise of things to come. “I love you, Jared.”

“I love you too, Jensen.” Jared curled into the warm arms that he knew would always welcome him and started to drift off. "Think we can lose Chris and the guys sometime?” he asked through a yawn.

“Probably not until I make a few more decisions, but I think if they know what I’m doing with you, it’ll keep ‘em away from direct contact,” Jensen told him, folding his arms protectively around Jared, feeling him fall into a deep sleep and knowing he’d follow soon since he was exhausted.

For the first time since his release, Jensen felt relaxed fully and knew he’d sleep with no nightmares or bitter memories of the time he’d spent locked up. He let his eyes move to watch Jared sleep, seeing none of the slight tension that he had noticed the past week or so, only the same boyish face he’d fallen in love with.

Jensen hadn’t really allowed himself the time to think of what he’d do or where his life would go from this moment. The only thing he knew for sure was that whatever he did would include Jared. He also knew that at some point one final piece of business would have to be taken care of, but he let thoughts of Tom Welling slide away as he closed his eyes to fall asleep with a final soft kiss to Jared’s forehead and dreams of their future beginning to bloom.

**TBC**


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the end for this one. Thanks for reading and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

**Rescue and Redemption**

**Epilogue**

****

** Four Years Later, outside of Sedona, AZ: **

“I’m running late. Could not get those guys to shut up and no, I did not punch any of them this time…barely,” Jared was saying as he hurried to his car. The hot sun was slowly setting on what promised to be a clear night sky…a night sky that he had plans for if he ever got back to Sedona.

The last four years seemed to have flown by in comparison to the time he’d spent without Jensen. It hadn’t always been smooth sailing as they learned they each had faults and habits that drove the other insane, but although they did fight occasionally, Jared never feared Jensen’s temper and making up was always fun.

Jensen did, after several months of recovery, slowly start working for JD and the group again. He never did long term undercover work again as he simply preferred to be able to spend most of his nights with Jared. If he was gone for a day or two, Jared was always waiting for him when he returned. The one time JD convinced Jensen to accept a job that kept him away for several days, Jared reminded the government agent why that wasn’t a good plan.

He had stopped hacking into places he shouldn’t…for the most part. Oh, Jared still could, and did if he wanted to annoy JD or Chris, but usually he did his most hacking only when JD asked him to. Of course Jared also knew that bothered Jensen because despite everything, his boyfriend…no, he glanced at the gold band on his hand and smiled while he made the correction that still left him feeling jittery…his _husband_ liked it when he played safely with computers and scientists and left the world of spies and villains to others.

Jared knew Jensen was just worried about him getting hurt when he became too involved in cases; it wasn’t too long ago when Jensen’s fears came true. Jared had been helping JD gather information on a slave ring and had accompanied the men on a stake out to help with the electronic equipment. Jared had ended up with a bullet in his shoulder when he didn’t listen to Jensen, and both men knew it could have been even worse. After the fit Jensen threw with JD over that incident, his involvement was now kept to simple hacking from the safety of one of their buildings.

Today he’d been attending a computer seminar outside of Sedona as one of their keynote speakers. Jared had made quite a name for himself in both the computer and astrology worlds, and while he could easily make a living doing either full time, he continued to pursue both fields as hobbies. Instead, he fell in love with teaching and taught college courses in Boston. During the fall and spring semesters, he taught introductory courses in both fields; during those months, Jensen refused to work and they lived in the city.

Between semesters and during the summer, Jared would travel with Jensen whenever he could which is why they were in Sedona right now. He was hurrying back because before he’d left that morning, Jensen had whispered several suggestions for what they could do later under the star filled sky.

It was a quiet night with very little breeze, and very few people were visible on the small campus where the lecture had been held. Jared was alone as he approached the plain black SUV, digging in his pocket for the keys then juggling the ragged backpack that he still owned and his phone as he tried to unlock the door.

Placing the phone on the roof, he sighed as the keys dropped. “Damn it,” he muttered, bending to pick them up. Suddenly he felt the hard cold muzzle of a gun touch the back of his neck, freezing him in place. “Wallet’s in my back pocket,” he said with a slight shake to his voice.

“It ain’t your money that I want, Padalecki.”

The voice made Jared’s stomach curl because it was one that he still heard in his dreams when he got too tired or Jensen was gone too long and worry about their pasts catching up to them returned.

“Broke out again, Welling?” he asked with what he thought was a pretty good attempt at bravado even though his hands were shaking as he stood slowly. He turned to face his attacker, grunting as his head snapped back when a hard fist punched him in the face. “Ugh!”

“Still a smart ass punk,” Tom Welling sneered, grabbing a handful of long think hair and bouncing Jared’s head off the hood of the SUV before yanking him around and shoving the Beretta muzzle under his jaw. “Lawyers finally got me out on some technicality and before anyone can put me back in, I want to put a bullet in your goddamn face. But first you’re going to get in this thing and we’re going to drive someplace quiet so I can make you scream for the years of hell you and goddamn Ackles have put me through.”

“No.” Jared’s head and face were on fire and he tasted blood, but didn’t think anything was broken yet. He took the next fist to the face because he knew it was coming, refusing the slight fear in his belly. This was his plan after all and it wouldn’t look good if he freaked out too much.

The one thing that Jared knew still bothered Jensen was that Tom Welling was still alive and kicking up all sorts of crap in the federal prison they’d finally locked him up in. The remaining members of Pellegrino, Inc. had just been glad to keep what little of the corporation they had left and didn’t seem interested in continuing their founder’s vendetta against the Padalecki family. There was no one but Welling who could still be considered a threat and everyone knew that one day the enraged man would either be released or escape…and he’d come straight for Jared.

Since JD kept vetoing every plan that Jensen came up with, Jared took it upon himself to create one. He knew the plan was risky, but if it was carried out flawlessly, it would end their problems with the man once and for all. The problem would be actually carrying it out without getting himself killed.

Refusing the man was a fast way to get killed since the craziness was shining in Welling’s eyes as he lifted the pistol as if either to shoot him or hit him with it. “No?” he shouted, grabbing Jared’s throat and squeezing. “You don’t get to say no to me! Now get in the goddamn car!”

“…Not sayin’ no to that, dumbass,” Jared gasped, one hand trying to pry the hand off his throat while his other grabbed onto the wrist holding the weapon to try to keep it away from him. “Sayin’ no to your lawyers…getting you outta jail. They…didn’t. I did.”

“What?” Welling stared at the kid he hated with a passion. “What the fuck are you talking about?”

Jared’s eyes were starting to spin when the fingers digging into his throat loosened and he drew in a quick breath. “The evidence against you still stands, Welling. In fact, right now you’ve been listed as escaped because no one back in Tennessee can find any of the official release papers or even a note saying your lawyers found something to get your verdict overturned.” He smirked, a little proud at all the loopholes and walls he’d created and then took away to pull this off without alerting anyone before it was time. “You’re out because I wanted you out. I wanted you out because I’m tired of always worrying or having Jensen worry that you might escape and come after me. This saves time.”

“You have a death wish or something, jackass?” Welling demanded with a sharp laugh, digging the muzzle of his weapon into Jared’s cheek and smiling when he winced in pain. “You think you can take me on your own? You’re nothing but a punk, Padalecki! All those fancy computer skills you think you have are nothing against a guy with a gun! There’s nothing to keep me from putting a bullet in your skull right now! Nothing!”

“Uhh, yeah, there is.” Jared’s eyes slid to the phone still on the roof of the SUV then back to the pissed off former hired gun. He flashed a little grin as he lifted his left hand to show the gold band he wore. “An open phone line to a husband who really hates your guts.”

“What?” Welling stared at him, confused. “What game are you…”

“Turn the fuck around, Welling,” Jensen’s hard voice growled from the phone. “Turn around and keep that gun away from Jared.”

Welling turned, but he grabbed Jared as he was moving and yanked him around with him, one arm around his neck with the Beretta held to his head. “So you think these three will keep me from killing your whore, Ackles?” he sneered as he took in Mike, Chad and Chris who had appeared without a sound.

All three men were armed, but none had their weapons raised as they formed a loose circle as if to keep him from escaping. “Kane should’ve killed me the last time I had a knife to his throat in Boston. I’ll make him scream before I kill him, Ackles! I will do everything I promised that day to do to him! I’ll…ugh!” He grunted when a hard elbow suddenly rammed back to hit him in his stomach with enough force that he lost his grip on Jared who, as soon as he could, lunged to the side. “I’ll kill him! I’ll…”

“No, you won’t.” Jensen’s tone on the phone dropped to pure cold steel as a small red dot suddenly appeared on Welling’s chest, directly over his heart. “It also won’t be one of them that kills you. I owe you for scaring him back then, and I owe you for hurting him in Boston. It’s my bullet that will make damn certain you’re never a threat to what’s mine again. Tell Pellegrino ‘hey’ when you see him in hell, bastard.”

Before Welling could get a grasp on what was happening, it was over. The bullet from the silenced sniper rifle struck him in the chest and he stared around him before falling to the ground.

“Not as gruesome as my idea, but it works,” Chad decided, shoving his weapon into the waistband on his jeans and moving forward as Mike reached out to help Jared to his feet. “Welling’s dead. Kill shot to the heart which is Jensen’s specialty shot.”

“By the time we’re done covering this up, it won’t be a shot to the heart that’ll be listed as cause of death.” Chris Kane nudged the body to be sure the man was dead before dropping a set of keys into Jared’s hand. “Take the Mustang and get your ass out of here,” he ordered sternly, seeing that Jared looked pale and bruised and deciding that it would be better to avoid Jensen for a day or two. “Pick up your partner in crime. JD said he’d call the next time he has a job. He also said…and I quote ‘go fuck like bunnies but stay out of the Department of Defense computers’.”

“Damn it! I do not need those images, Chris!” Chad yelled, shuddering in mock disgust. “I was scarred for life the day I walked into their motel room to find ‘em making out on a table.”

Mike looked up from rolling the corpse in a plastic sheet. “That’s why Jensen said to knock first, stupid,” he snorted, hiding his grin as Jared rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at a muttering Chad. “Get going, Jared. Jensen’s going to be freaking out if you don’t get to him soon. I’m surprised he’s not calling one of…oh, there he is,” he sighed as Chris’s phone started ringing.

“Tell him I’m fine and I’ll be there in a few minutes.” Jared hid his wince as he grabbed his phone and backpack to toss them into the deep red Mustang that was parked close by.

A look in the mirror had him cringing. Jared gingerly tried to wipe off some of the blood that trailed from the corner of his temple down onto his face as he drove, but knew there’d be no way to hide the wounds he’d picked up from Jensen. He took a deep breath and started working on the story he’d use to try to calm his husband down.

None of the men had liked using Jared as bait, but as he’d reasoned, it was him that Welling would come after first. He had no doubt that he could escape serious injury, but he hadn’t counted on his face connecting with the SUV’s hood.

He drove just about a mile away from the spot, where there was a set of red rocks that were a backdrop to the town’s natural scenery. They were also the perfect spot for a sniper with perfect eyesight to be hidden with a long-range scope.

Jared pulled the Mustang off the side of the road, onto a small dirt path, and shut the engine off. He reached for the handle only to have the door pulled opened before he’d even touched it. Strong, familiar hands reached in and tugged him out. “Hi,” he greeted softly but lost the rest of the words and his breath when he was kissed deeply and passionately. He tried not to wince or make a sound, but knew he’d failed when he was pushed back to arm’s length to see sharp green eyes taking in his bruises. “I’m fine, Jen.”

“I should’ve shot the asshole the first time he put his goddamn hands on you,” Jensen growled, hands steadier than they had been when he’d put his rifle away. Now that he had Jared in front of him to touch and hold, and knew he was finally fully safe, he felt a little better. He wasn’t thrilled with the drying blood and bruises he could see, but he would take care of those later. “This is the absolute late time you put yourself at risk, Jay. He could’ve…damn it, when I saw that gun to your head I…”

“I knew you were watching…and I knew Chris, Mike and Chad were close. I wasn’t in any real danger, Jen. Now it’s over.” Jared turned his cheek more into the hand that covered his face as he met the worried gaze with a small smile. “I knew you’d protect me because you promised.”

“Always, Jared,” Jensen murmured, smoothing his thumb over a bruise forming on Jared’s jaw before pressing his lips to the spot. “I’ll always protect you…even if it’s from JD when you do something you shouldn’t be doing.”

Jared smiled more then winced. “Ow. I think I need some ice,” he muttered, returning the hug when he was brought into Jensen’s arms again. “And some liquor or…you.”

“You can have ice and me as soon as we get back to Sedona and I get you cleaned up, but no alcohol. The last time I let you have anything stronger than beer, I was explaining to JD and the goddamn Secret Service why the White House lawn had a thousand roosters and a chickens clucking around on it.” Jensen kept his hand on Jared until he got him seated on the passenger side of the Mustang and then slid in behind the wheel, smiling more when a hand slid over to find his.

“I was gonna send kittens, but it was easier to find birds.” Jared let his eyes close once he felt Jensen’s palm touch his and heard the comforting sound of Jensen’s Mustang start up. “Jensen? Can we sit out and watch the stars tonight?”

One of the reasons Jensen had chosen the Sedona area for a summer home was that the sky was usually clear, and Jared still loved to show him the stars. Even if they just sat in the swing in the small back yard, it made Jared’s dimples come out fully as he laughed and pointed out stars and solar systems to Jensen.

“Yeah, we can do that since I don’t think your face will feel much like having me kiss you like I planned.” Jensen brought the hand he was holding up to his lips, glancing over to look at the young man that he loved as much today as he had the night Jared changed his world. “Maybe you could put together your new telescope and show me something up close.”

“We don’t have a telescope,” Jared countered, prying one eye open when he heard a small hum. He caught the steady gaze that was watching him and felt his chest tighten. “You…you said when you were ready to stop working for JD’s group, ready to settle in one place, we could put a telescope in,” he murmured cautiously, fighting the sudden burning in his eyes as he watched Jensen’s lips curve as he nodded. “You…are you serious, Jen? I…didn’t think you’d…”

“I’m 38 years old, Jared. That’s not old, but I’m tired of it,” Jensen told him, moving his eyes back to the road. “I’m tired of the lies, the secrets, of never knowing when I’ll be stabbed in the back…and I hate being away from you even for a day or two.” He looked over to see the glistening wetness on long lashes but also the smile. “I like Sedona, and there’s always stuff I can do around here. You can still…against my better judgment…hack stuff for the guys if they ask, but I think it’s time to give you a normal life without worrying that I might not make it back from a job.”

Jared ignored the bucket seats in the Mustang and moved closer to wrap his arms around Jensen tightly, kissing his face without care to the pain in his own face. “Thank you, thank you, thank you,” he said between kisses until Jensen was laughing. “I love you so much, Jen! I promise I won’t get into trouble hacking governments or JD’s computers or anything illegal. Promise.”

Jensen chuckled at that because he knew asking Jared to stop doing what he loved would never work, but that was fine…since he’d be around more to make sure he didn’t get himself into too much trouble. “Let’s go home, Jay,” he said and settled in for the drive back to the house in Sedona. One day soon he’d tell Jared that he’d bought it a year earlier with just this plan in mind and looked forward to their lives together.

**The End**


End file.
